Naruto Redux
by Repp Ohs Sarg
Summary: As the camera pans in front of the Konoha Twelve and the Suna team, at the end of the first American Naruto opening, this author imagined one character that was left out. One character that did what she wanted. OOC, NaruHina JiraTsuna, lots OOC. Sorry
1. What should I say? Cigar Blues Remixed?

**Naruto, Hinata the rest of the Konoha Eleven and their sensei's were fighting an incredible war against Orochimaru and all of his forces.**

**Smokin'Oken was also taking part in the battle, on the side of our heroes.**

**There was noise and mayhem everywhere.**

**Then Smokin'Oken shouted out.**

"**Bwahahahahahahahahaha! I'm switching sides. Watch and weep, Konoha!"**

"**Which side I'm joining? I'll make my own side! I own the Narutoverse!"**

**The very next second, complete silence reigned over the battlefield.**

**Smokin'Oken's PA, who had a barrier around him that completely nullified any sort of attacks on his person, came to him and said he'd made the biggest mistake of his life.**

**Then, pandemonium resumed, with one target – Smokin'Oken.**

**Konoha was double-teaming with Orochimaru, and attacking Smokin'Oken.**

"**WHY THE FRICKIN' HELL AM I BEING HIT BY BABY RATTLES?!?!"**

**The PA said something to him.**

**FINE! FINE! I DON'T OWN THE NARUTOVERSE, AND ANY CHARACTERS BELONGING TO IT! ALL BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO.**

**The attack on Smokin'Oken stopped.**

"**Now, I can fulfill my own dreams of world domination with my nullifying barrier!", said the PA.**

**The rattles that hit Smokin'Oken, magically flew to the PA, attacking him.**

**Now, he was the center of all attacks.**

**Needless to say, the PA died a gruesome, horrible death.**

**So kids, moral of the story is, good little fanfic authors who do not provide a disclaimer, will meet the same fate as my PA.**

**Once again, I don't own Narutoverse or/and any of its characters.**

**Damn, I'll be needing a new PA after this.**

"**Carry on, guys"**

**The fighting resumed.**

* * *

**At the training posts**

There were two days before the finals of the Chunin exams, when he had to face Neji Hyuga.

Naruto was seriously training at the training posts, when he, kind of, felt a presence watching him.

He turned back to see that the presence was actually Hinata.

"Ne, Hinata-chan. You don't have to sneak upon me, you can always come and talk to me anytime you want, you know that, right?", asked Naruto.

Hinata stuttered, trying to make a reply, while moving to Naruto, standing one foot in front of him.

"Um, y-yes, Na-Naruto-kun, its j-ju-just that , um, I w-wan-wanted to g-g-give you this ointment-"

And before Hinata could complete her statement, a girl appeared out of nowhere.

She had the deepest blue hair, and fierce, grass like green eyes. Strangely, she was wearing black pants, and a red T-Shirt that....

"Hey, is that a chibi me eating Ramen on your T-Shirt?", asked Naruto.

"Whooooooohh! I _am_ in the Naruto world. And what do we have here?", she asked, narrowing her eyebrows at Naruto and Hinata, who were staring at her, confusedly.

The newcomer's eyebrows shot up like a rocket. "Naruhodo, you're Naruto Uzumaki, and you're Hinata Hyuga, aren't you?", she asked.

Naruto answered, for Hinata was still stuttering a bit. "Um, yeah, and who're you?", he asked.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Hana Aikouka", she said.

"Right, um, how did you come here?", asked Hinata, her stuttering gone for a bit. Strangely, she felt kind of confident.

"I just got here. We can worry about how, later. Now let's get to the main matter. Naruto-kun, Hinata-chan, I want your word, that what I am going to tell you, will never be heard by another, unless I say so. What I am going to speak to you about, are S-rank secrets, and the Hokage could kill me for speaking of it.", said Hana.

"Hai!", both replied, one confidently – for, it was his nindo, his ninja way – the other, a bit stuttering, but with the same confidence – for that was her nindo, her ninja way too.

'Fine, let me start by confirming a few things. Hinata-chan, please be brave, OK?", she said.

"Um, yes!", replied Hinata.

"Right", said Hana, diving into the main matters. "Naruto-kun, you hold the Nine Tailed Fox, inside of you don't you?"

Both Naruto and Hinata were surprised, Naruto because he didn't know how Hana knew, and Hinata because she never knew about it at all.

"Hey, ho-how did YOU know about it?", asked Naruto, stunned.

"Never mind about that, again", said Hana.

"Fine, but I-we want an explanation later, OK?", asked Naruto, and for Hinata too.

"OK, now let me recount your life up to now. You were born on the tenth of October, you've failed the Genin exams thrice, you beat the crap out of Mizuki who was your 'teacher', so to speak, your team mates are Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno, your Jonin Sensei is Kakashi Hatake, the legendary Copy-Ninja, your team defeated Zabuza Momochi and Haku in your first A-Rank mission, your specialty is the Shadow Clone technique, you can summon the Toad Chief, Gamabunta, and your other teachers were Ebisu, and Jiraiya, the Toad Sage, or should I say, Ero-Sennin?", she rattled off.

Naruto was floored. Stunned. Shocked. That someone knew so much about him, other than Old Man Hokage, and Kakashi-sensei, that is, was unimaginable.

Hana continued. "And you, Hinata Hyuga, your birthday is the 27th of December, your hobbies are reading books and pressing flowers, your teammates are Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka, your Jonin Sensei is Kurenai Yuhi, the Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha, your style is the Jyuken, you were once almost kidnapped by a Kumo Jonin, and.........."

At this point, Hana walked towards Hinata, and whispered something in her ear, which made her faint. Promptly.

Naruto was angry. "Hey, what did you tell her?", he asked.

"Oh, don't worry, Naruto-kun, its something that stays between girls", she said, giggling.

Naruto started scratching his head, now confused. Then he remembered the situation.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu", he shouted. He then ordered his clones to get water, when Hana stopped him.

"Wait, Naruto-kun, let me try this. Mizu Parapara no Jutsu", she said softly.

A small rain bearing cloud hovered over Hinata's face, and rain gently drizzled onto Hinata's face, waking her up after ten seconds or so.

The cloud disappeared, and Hinata sat up. She took one look at Hana's smiling face, and her face turned a deep shade of red.

"Don't worry, Hinata-chan, I won't tell it to anyone, for now", said Hana, offering a kerchief to Hinata, for wiping her face.

Hinata wiped her face,gradually losing the red shade, and gave back the kerchief to Hana, who put it inside a pocket in her pants, and then continued.

"I have been right so far, haven't I?"

She was met with two affirmative nods, but then Naruto had a question, for Hinata. Sensing it(it was obvious, Naruto was looking at Hinata frequently), Hana took out a book and started reading, being nonchalant towards the pair in front of her.

"Right, um, Hinata-chan. Aren't you surprised that I hold a demon inside of me?" asked Naruto.

"Um, so what, Naruto-kun? A-as f-far as I'm c-concerned, you a-are Naruto-kun, a twelve year old boy, who has a g-grand am-ambition of w-wanting to become a H-Hokage. I c-could care l-less about the d-demon inside of you", said Hinata, with determination shining through her pale lavender eyes.

"Hinata-chan", said Naruto, finding a new sense of respect for the stuttering, shy girl. Never again would he call her weird.

"Oh, Gods! I am _so_ giving you a helping hand!", saying that, Hana moved towards the pair, who were very close to each other, and gently shoved their heads into kissing each other's mouth.

Naruto and Hinata were 'shocked', by the kiss, which they would both describe later, as pure electricity,

And also by Hana's antics.

After the initial shock, though, their minds were racing as they were kissing.

Naruto realized that all the small things in his younger years, were all courtesy of Hinata. The goggles, the orange jumpsuit, and a few more birthday presents, all had had a lavender flower like a signature, and then he understood who was behind all those gifts. He then realized that he had feelings for Hinata.

Hinata, on the other hand, was almost feeling faint. Here she was, her lifelong dream a success, kissing Naruto. She was all of a flutter.

As soon as they'd thought all of these, their kissing became more intense. Hana, who was the one who caused this scene, was watching with shining eyes, and a big smile on her face.

"Yes! Yes! Finally these two have got together!", she said, jumping up and down. She was so hyper at the moment.

Hinata and Naruto broke apart for air. They stared into each other's eyes, and resumed the same activity as they were doing a few seconds ago.

Behind them, Hana was cheering like mad for the two of them.

This went on for the next quarter of an hour, after which, the two kissers fell to the ground, and rested their backs on the training posts.

They were staring into each other's eyes, again.

"Ne, Hinata-chan. Do you wanna go out on a date after the finals are over?", asked Naruto.

"Hai, Naruto-kun", replied Hinata, breathless.

"OK, that was the best thing I've ever seen you do, Naruto", she said, glomping onto both Naruto and Hinata. "I love you guys", she said having a huge smile all the time.

When she released them from the glomp, Naruto and Hinata both caught Hana in a group hug with smiles on their faces too.

"Are we friends?", asked Hana.

The reply was swift and simultaneous. "Yes, we are!" and "Yeah, of course!" were the reply from the other two.

Hana relaxed herself into their group hug. But for now, she was going to help Naruto and Hinata with their budding relationship.

_'I've made my first move, let's see what else I'm able to do.' _thought Hana

The three broke from their group hug.

Hana said, "Guys, I know you want to continue with this relationship – either of you should have shouted out loud if you did not like it. So here's something from me – take it slowly. Start off as friends, know each other more through your dates, define your limits, and then decide if you truly love each other. And.... ", trailing off.

"And what?", asked Naruto.

"Um, never mind about that, we'll talk about it later. Now, Naruto-kun, I have to tell you about something", said Hana.

"And what's that?", asked Naruto, becoming serious.

"Your legacy", said Hana. "Hinata-chan, please do not tell this to anyone, even your family. Though some of them might know about this, please do _not _tell them about this, right?"

"Hai", said the person in question.

"Naruto, you're the son of the Fourth Hokage", said Hana.

"Hahahahaha, you must be joking. Me, the dead last, the 'dobe', the dropout, the idiot, the fool, the demon,-"

"The Jinchuuriki, the Savior, the True Hero, you, yes sir, are the last remaining, and the only, I might add, legacy of the Fourth Hokage", said Hana.

To say Naruto was shocked, was an understatement. He was floored.

"You mean, I'm actually the son of my hero, the Fourth Hokage?", asked Naruto, positively bewildered. Hinata hugged him from the side with a single arm.

"Yes, do you want to know more about your family?", asked Hana, and then realized that Naruto would want to know, regardless of being asked or not. "Wait, scratch that. You would want to know anyway, right?", she asked.

Naruto nodded, and asked Hana to continue.

"Right, your father was Minato Namikaze, the most revered and the most powerful ninja, during his tenure, and before, as a Hokage. He was famous for his Hiraishin no Jutsu, AKA the Flying Thunder God Technique. He was so powerful, that a flee on sight order was issued to his enemies, if they ever encountered him. His Genin team comprised of Rin Inuzuka, Obito Uchiha, and Kakashi Hatake-"

At this point, Naruto interrupted Hana, "Kakashi-sensei's Sensei was Dad?"

"Yeah, just so. Do you want to know how he got his Sharingan eye? Well, it was during the first mission with Kakashi as a Jonin. Their mission was to destroy a bridge, which was instrumental for carrying supplies for Iwagakure. Minato-sama planned to cause chaos at the front lines, to distract the Iwa ninjas, while allowing the other three to destroy the bridge. But, tragedy struck in the form of an Iwa ninja, who had kidnapped Rin for info. Kakashi and Obito had an argument on whether to continue the mission or to save Rin. Kakashi's father, Sakumo Hatake, who was also known as the White Fang of Konoha, was in an instrumental mission where he chose to save his friends at the cost of the mission. Subsequently, the same friends and Konoha were not happy with him for failing the mission, and thus he committed suicide. Kakashi, who was affected a lot by this, chose to adapt to the rules of the shinobi more than his instincts and emotions. Therefore, he always put the mission in front of his comrades' lives. Then, Obito left Kakashi, saying his line, which Kakashi adopted, 'Those who break rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends and comrades are even worse than trash'. Struck by what Obito said, Kakashi followed Obito, and found him in a bit of a jam with an Iwa Jonin. He moved to defend Obito from the Iwa Jonin's back attack, at the cost of his left eye. The shock of Kakashi's attack awakened the Sharingan in Obito. The Jonin then used a rockfall technique to bury the two in a landslide. Kakashi escaped, but the left side of Obito was fully impaled. The two had managed to kill the Jonin and rescue Rin, before the rockfall hit though. So, Obito, who knew he was going to die, asked Rin, using her medical jutsu, to implant his remaining Sharingan eye into Kakashi's damaged left eye socket. Then Kakashi managed to perfect his Chidori – you know about it, right?", asked Hana.

"Chidori?", asked both Hinata and Naruto.

"OK, let me explain it this way, the Chidori basically involves channeling chakra into your hands. The amount of chakra channeled is so much, that the chakra is visible to the open eye. It alters the nature of the technique, basically converting it to electricity. This technique involves a large amount of chakra, and the user has to move very _very_ fast, in a line in order to successfully use this technique. Hinata-chan, can you find the defect in this technique, and why Kakashi can use it perfectly?", asked Hana.

"Um, let me think for a bit, Hana-chan.", said Hinata.

After a few minutes, during which Naruto remained silent only because he was figuring out why, Hinata came out with the answers.

"The user has to move in a line with high speed, in a straight line, this means only one thing – tunnel vision.", said Hinata.

"What's tunnel vision?", asked Naruto.

"Well, Naruto-kun, if you run with high speed, in a straight line, you can't focus or see anywhere else other than your target. That sensation is called as tunnel vision. With the Sharingan, though, that trouble can be removed. The Sharingan picks up each and every movement within the user's eyesight. That's why Kakashi-sensei perfected it after he got Obito-san's Sharingan eye.", said Hinata.

"You're right, Hinata-chan. Full marks!", said Hana happily.

"But why can't I use it?", asked Naruto.

"Wait a minute", said Hana, rummaging through her pant pockets. "I'm sure I have some of those here.", she muttered to herself.

"Ah, here we go.", she said, handing a small piece of paper to Naruto and Hinata each, and taking one for herself.

"I got these recently. Now, try channeling chakra into your piece of paper.", she said.

All three concentrated for a few seconds. Then, Naruto's paper split into two, and both halves started crumbling.

Hinata's paper became soggy, and fell.

Hana's paper started burning and curled into ashes.

"What just happened?", asked Naruto.

"These, were chakra attuned papers made out of a special type of wood. They're extremely attuned to chakra. Their purpose is to find one's elemental affinity.", said Hana.

"Elemental affinity?", asked Naruto.

"Yes. Each ninja's chakra is attuned to a specific element. Your paper split into two, which means your elemental affinity is towards the element of Wind. Hinata-chan's paper became soggy, which means her elemental affinity is towards the element of Water. Mine burnt, which means my chakra nature is Fire.", said Hana.

"But, my paper crumbled too, after it was split in half. What does that mean?", asked Naruto.

"That means, you have a secondary affinity to the element of Earth. One more thing, your nature type means that you will only require half the amount of chakra normally needed, to use a jutsu of that type.

For example, it will be easier for Hinata-chan to learn Daibakufu no Jutsu than for either of us. It will be hard especially for me, because I have a fire nature. Fire is weak against water. Understood?", asked Hana.

"Hai!", came two replies.

Naruto, for once, felt everything was crystal clear, and he enjoyed the lesson too.

"Uh, Hana-chan, let's continue", said Naruto.

"Yeah, right", said Hana. "Kakashi perfected it and got his first kill with it. His fame hit the sky after his first success as a Jonin. Well, that's how he got his Sharingan.", finished Hana.

"Wow!", said Naruto, whistling. "Maybe that's why Kakashi-sensei's more partial to Sasuke, because he's the last Uchiha. Anyway, thanks for the story, and you were talking about my dad right?", asked Naruto.

"Yes", said Hana, continuing, "Well, some of his techniques are your birthright, you know?"

"Really? Can you teach me these jutsus?", asked Naruto, becoming hyper.

"Actually, no, but I do know someone who can teach them", said Hana.

"Maybe that person is Jiraiya-sama?", asked Hinata, speaking for the first time in a while.

"How did you know that?", was Hana's question, while Naruto's reaction was "Whaaaaaat?!?!?!".

"I just guessed", said Hinata.

"That's right, Hinata-chan. Jiraiya-sama knows some of Minato-sama's jutsus. We'll have to ask him. Yes, Naruto-kun, I know, you're bursting to ask why the hell we have to rely on 'Ero-Sennin' for this. Well, Jiraiya-sama was Minato-sama's sensei", said Hana.

"Oh man, how many surprises can my poor heart take? Ero-sennin was dad's Sensei?", asked Naruto.

"Yes, and Naruto, please give Jiraiya-sama some respect. He was half-way, if not fully, responsible for your dad's success, and he is _incredibly_ proud of Minato-sama. The fact that he couldn't save Minato-sama from his death saddens him a lot."

Understanding what Hana said, Naruto grudgingly agreed to call Jiraiya as Gama-Sennin.

"Well, then, your mother, I do not have much info on, other than the facts that your last name is her last name, and that your mother's name was Kushina Uzumaki, but I do know three things. Your mother loved your father very much, and neither abandoned you, if you've ever thought like that."

"Arigatou, Hana-chan. That's a relief. And, what about the third?", asked Naruto.

At this, Hana started using her hands, to fan herself. "She was one HELL of a kunoichi!"

"Really?", asked Naruto, and he saw that Hana was nodding so fast that he felt her head might fly off.

"Well, its been a tiring day. Tell you what, I'll treat you both at Ichiraku's for Ramen. OK?", asked Hana.

Both agreed, and they left for Ichiraku's.

* * *

**The next day**

"Right", said Hana-chan, who found Naruto and Hinata gathered at the training posts. She'd just taken a kip at the training posts for the night after Naruto and Hinata had returned home.

"Do we need to find Gama-Sennin for anything?", asked Naruto.

"Yes, we will need to find him. I have to tell him something.", said Hana.

"So, how are we going to find him?", asked Hinata.

"Let's see."After thinking for a bit "Yeah! That's right!", exclaimed Hana, coming up with an idea.

"Naruto-kun, please create some shadow clones.", said Hana.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu", said Naruto, creating five clones. "Now what?", he asked.

"Please transform them using your Oiroke no Jutsu.", said Hana.

"Oiroke no Jutsu", said Naruto, transforming himself and his clones into busty blond women.

"Naruhodo, now I understand why males pine after this form of yours, especially Jiraiya-sama.", said Hana.

Hinata, unexpectedly had a nosebleed, which did not go unnoticed by Hana.

"Right, can you put some bikinis or something like that?", asked Hana.

After a single seal, all the clones of Naruto and the original were sporting red bikinis.

"Right, where now, boss?", asked one of the clones to Naruto, who gave a questioning look to Hinata.

"To the hot springs!", said Hana, with fervor.

There was an awkward silence after that.

"You mean, Gama-Sennin's hot spot? I might be a boy, but I don't want you two to be peeked at.", said Naruto.

He was bonked in the head by Hana.

"Baaaaka! The two of us won't be going. You are.", said Hana.

"What are you two going to do then?", asked Naruto, rubbing his head.

"Perimeter surveillance!", said Hana.

"Um, we're going to search for Jiraiya-sama from outside, right?", asked Hinata on seeing Naruto's confused look again.

"Yes, Hinata-chan. Now, let's go!

* * *

**At the Hot Springs of Konoha**

Naruto and his clones made a big fuss of entering the hot springs, which attracted Jiraiya like magnets.

He was watching the action from behind the bushes, when someone said "Got you!", from behind him.

He turned back to see that he was caught by two young girls. Then, Naruto, who'd heard Hana shout, came.

"Right, Jiraiya-sama, we need to tell you something.", said the blue-haired girl.

"Well, whatever it is, missy, I ain't gonna listen to you.", said Jiraiya, preparing to leave.

"You won't hear about it, even though it concerns Sarutobi-sama's life?", asked Hana, who was met with three gasps.

"Hokage-sama's life?", asked Naruto and Hinata, while Jiraiya said, "Sarutobi-sensei's life?"

"Yes, it does. But this is not the place to talk about it. Follow me.", said Hana, jumping away, followed by the three.

* * *

**At the Hokage Mountain, top of the Yondaime Hokage's head**

"Right, Jiraiya-sama, just in case, could you put up a silence barrier of some sort?", asked Hana.

Jiraiya pulled out a paper with the kanji for silence written on it, and slapped it on the ground.

"Right, now tell me.", said Jiraiya.

"Right, Jiraiya-sama. You know of Orochimaru's involvement in the second stage of the Chunin exams, right?", asked Hana.

"Yes, what about it?", asked Jiraiya.

"You know that Orochimaru is planning an invasion of Konoha, right?", asked Hana, who was met with an affirmative nod.

"Well, you might not know that the village allied with Otogakure in this invasion is, Sunagakure."

"What? Suna is allied with Oto?"

"Yes, that's true. Also, Suna has a secret weapon – do you know who it is?"

"No! Who is it?"

"It is Gaara."

The remaining three were stunned. How did Hana know so much?

"Well, what?", asked Hana.

"Why is Gaara a secret weapon?", asked Naruto.

"It is because he is like you, Naruto-kun. He is also a Jinchuuriki."

"What? Gaara is a Jinchuuriki?", asked Jiraiya, surprised.

"Yes, ask Naruto-kun. He has heard first hand from Gaara, what his life's been like."

Jiraiya gave Naruto a long glance, under which Naruto sighed.

"Yes, he is, Gama-Sennin."

"Gama-Sennin? Why aren't you calling me Ero-Sennin? And how can you trust this kid?", asked Jiraiya.

"To answer your first question, its because I respect you for how Dad became so famous and powerful under your tutelage.", said Naruto.

"Nah, most of it was Minato himself, I only helped a little.", said Jiraiya, and then when he realized what he said, shut his mouth. He had gotten carried away by the pride he felt for his former student.

"Don't worry, Gama-Sennin, I know that the Yondaime Hokage was your student and my father. I also understand that he must have very powerful enemies, if his enemies were instructed to flee on sight. I won't go about broadcasting that fact. Even if there is a danger of doing so, these two will shut me up, hopefully.", said Naruto, when Hana and Hinata nodded simultaneously.

"You know about Minato? Who told you?", asked Jiraiya weakly.

"It was me. I told him about it.", said Hana.

"Right. Fine. Now, about the invasion.", said Jiraiya.

"Make sure, _somehow, _you're able to stay near Sarutobi-sama. Don't fool with that request, please. If you really value your sensei's life, make sure you are near him during the Chunin exam finals. I really can't impress the importance of this action enough. _Stay near Sarutobi-sama._", said Hana, wringing her hands.

"Alright, alright, I'll somehow be near Sarutobi-sensei during the Chunin exam finals. Is that OK with you?"

"Yeah, while you're at it, I've confirmed that Naruto-kun's nature type is Wind, so could you teach him one or two wind jutsus?"

"Give me one good reason as to why I have to teach this brat two wind jutsus!"

"I'll give you three. One, he has respect for you, more so than before. Two, his father was your student. Three,", at this point, Hana went to Jiraiya, and started whispering into his ears.

Jiraiya's face went from anger to blank to happiness, and finally, to pure bliss.

"You'll do that for me?", asked Jiraiya with shining eyes, to which, Hana replied, "As long as you meet a few conditions, I can do that."

"Fine", said Jiraiya, who smiled for the first time since the start of their impromptu meeting. "Consider it done."

* * *

**Back, at the Training Posts**

The three, and Jiraiya got to the training posts of the training grounds where Hana had made her appearance.

Jiraiya started to speak. "Since we have limited time in our hands, Naruto, you're going to have to extensively use your shadow clones for the job. Since these two are here as well, I'm going to give you an hour to teach the two Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, while I sit down and think about what you, missy,-"

"The name's Hana. Hana Aikouka.", said Hana.

"Right, Hana, told me", continued Jiraiya, when he was interrupted by Naruto.

"How will shadow clones help my training?"

"Right, create a shadow clone, you brat!", said Jiraiya, angry at being interrupted.

Simultaneously, both Jiraiya and Naruto shouted, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu".

A clone each of Naruto and Jiraiya were created.

Jiraiya instructed his clone to take Naruto's clone into the woods.

After sometime, the real Naruto shouted out, "Oh, man! How the hell could I lose to you in rock paper scissors?"

Then only, did Naruto realize what he'd shouted out.

"That's right, Naruto, shadow clones are best used for reconnaissance missions. What the clone learns, is learned by the user also. This means that you, who can create hundreds of shadow clones, can learn things that take months in hours!", said Jiraiya.

Naruto, seemingly on the edge of hyperactivity, calmed down, and, surprising all those present, bowed down and said, "Arigatou, Gama-Sennin".

"Excellent, brat, you're learning some manners.", said Jiraiya, looking particularly smug, and then, he made the mistake of looking at Hana.

Hana gave Jiraiya a look, under which Jiraiya quailed, losing his smugness.

"Fine, here's your hour. I'll be sitting down by these trees", muttered Jiraiya.

* * *

**An hour later**

Naruto had managed to make sure that they got the jutsu down.

Though they wouldn't be able to make the army Naruto could right away, but they would be able to make one clone, and that would actually be enough for them now.

What surprised them though, was the fact that Naruto had successfully taught them the jutsu. He didn't seem to realize, how good a job he'd done.

"Well, we're done for now, so why don't we take a break and then call Jiraiya-sama? I have some snacks the three of us can share.", said Hinata, in her trademark soft voice, who took out a box containing six rice balls and three sticks of dango.

The other two thanked Hinata, said "Itadakimasu", and dove in with gusto into the snacks.

After they were done, the three reported to Jiraiya, who got up.

"Right. Here is a small but useful wind element jutsu : its called the Teikietsu Shouheki no Jutsu. Basically it creates a cyclone of wind, with the user in the center, and can be used both as a short range offense attack and as a defense. It operates similar to the Rotation technique of the Hyugas, but instead of chakra, you will be using wind. There are a few more uses for it, but I'll leave it to you to figure it out.", said Jiraiya.

He demonstrated the technique, and did so again, allowing all three to pay close attention to how it worked, and after doing it, showed them the hand seals.

"Alright, Gama-sennin, I'll find out those uses, for sure. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu", said Naruto, immediately creating the clones and starting to practice on the jutsu. Two of them approached Hinata and Hana, who immediately understood their purpose, and started sparring with them.

All three were so immersed in their work, that they barely heard Jiraiya saying he'd meet them tomorrow.

All three stopped for a mini conference.

"Oh, man! Gama-sennin deserted us.", said Naruto.

"It's OK, Naruto-kun", said Hinata, in her usual delicate voice, "he did say he'd be back tomorrow, right, Hana-chan?"

"Yes, Hinata-chan, he did. So, let's spend the day training, hit Ichiraku's for lunch, and I know of a truly fantastic place, which we can hit for dinner. So......", trailed off Hana.

"So what?", asked Naruto.

"Chop chop", said Hana, bonking Naruto on the head again, and returned to her spar.

* * *

**At Ichiraku's**

After half a day of intense training, all three kids were ready to flop down and sleep.

Naruto had managed to perfect Teikietsu Shouheki no Jutsu only halfway. But still, it was a far cry from what he had begun with.

Also, he got a few tricks which would be handy against his upcoming opponent, Neji Hyuga, when he'd dispersed the clone that was fighting Hinata.

Despite their drowsy mood, they managed to drag themselves to Ichiraku's, before entering which, Hana pulled Naruto to the side, saying "Just a second!", to Hinata.

"Naruto-kun, I realize that you really aren't the one for table manners, but can't you at least _slow down_ while eating your food?", asked Hana with an annoyed look.

"What do you mean Hana-chan?", asked Naruto. "It's not like I'm scaring anyone.......", he trailed off when he saw Hana look at him in _that _way. (OK, not THAT way. YOU know WHAT way.)

Naruto immediately quailed, even more so when Hana said, "Yes! It's Hinata-chan."

"Fine, I'll slow down while I'm eating, OK?", said Naruto.

The three then entered Ichiraku's, and gave their orders.

Hinata was surprised with the change in Naruto's eating habits. Though, she did hide it.

The three stepped out of the shop.

"Fine, we're done here. Let's meet after two hours at the same training posts, for one of the remaining legs of the training. Sayonara, Naruto-kun, Hinata-chan.", said Hana, skipping away. Both felt like they heard Hana skipping away singing, "I love Japanese suffixes".

"Right. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.", said Naruto, creating some shadow clones which immediately rushed out of the building.

"U-um, what were those for, Naruto-kun?", asked Hinata.

"Forgive me if I'm gonna look like an idiot, Hinata-chan, but what do you say we rest at my apartment?I know for a fact that your house is a bit farther from here,, and that your room is even deeper inside the Hyuga compound, and we're both tired.", said Naruto.

"W-wait, Naruto-k-kun, h-how do you k-know that my room is deep inside the Hyuga c-compound?", asked Hinata.

At this statement, Naruto gave that silly, sheepish look. You know, that look where he puts his hand behind his head and scratches it. Saying "Hehehehehehe!".

Hinata gasped, in a supreme moment of understanding.

"It was you, wasn't it, Naruto-kun? You were the one who painted graffiti all over the Hyuga compound walls from the inside, five years ago, for days together, weren't you?", asked Hinata, to which Naruto affirmatively nodded.

"Hai, Hinata-chan, it was me.", said Naruto, still with that look.

"Naruto-kun! Your skill in stealth has to be at least Jonin level. I heard that you escaped _every_ single day, though of course, your name was never mentioned to us. You had continued to evade the ANBU as well as the Hyuga ninjas everyday. My God, Naruto-kun, you have potential that very few have.", said Hinata, surprised. She also started to sniffle, tears shining in her eyes.

"Well, if they'd known it, they would have made me a secret weapon or something like Gaara. So as twisted and crazy as it sounds, I'm kind of happy that the people of Konoha just shunned me like this and left me like this. I can feel happy, sad, anger, hate, I can laugh, cry, jump up and down, and be silly in general.", said Naruto.

"Oh, Naruto-kun.", said Hinata, jumping straight into Naruto's arms, crying.

Naruto, who had zilch experience with crying girls, just did something he felt comfortable doing – holding on, allowing Hinata to cry for a few.

After some time, when Hinata stopped shedding tears, Naruto pushed her chin up, using his thumbs to clear Hinata's face which was full of tear tracks.

"Look at this way, Hinata-chan, at least now, if I ever raise a child, I know what I have to do if he is spurned by the people.", said Naruto, closing his eyes.

"Not if, Naruto-kun. When, not if.", whispered Hinata into Naruto's ears.

In the few moments in which Naruto had closed his eyes, Hinata's lips had curved into a beautiful smile, which increased the radiance of her face.

"Hinata-chan", said Naruto, completely surprised.

"Yes, Naruto-kun. When, not if."

Saying this, Hinata leaned onto Naruto's mouth and impaled her lips upon his.

A full size smooch fest began, and went on for the next few minutes, when they broke for that molecule that's chiefly responsible for our survival. They made their way to Naruto's house.

* * *

**At Naruto's house**

Figuring Hinata would be more comfy with the bed, Naruto decided to take the couch, and laid the now sleeping Hinata on his bed.

Making sure that Hinata was comfy of course.

He then laid himself down on the couch, thinking about how his life became different because of one person who had arrived from somewhere else.

Hey, he never did ask Hana about she came here, after all.

That, hopefully would be revealed soon. As much as he wanted to jump the gun and ask Hana about how she came, he realized that he would inevitably know the answers for many questions soon.

For now, though, he shifted his mind towards more, different, and risqué thoughts, like Hinata-chan, and their budding romance.

He turned and slept like a rock for the next two hours.

* * *

**Still at Naruto's house**

Hinata woke up, thoroughly drenched.

"Aaaaaahh", she squealed, waking up.

She was breathing heavily, heaving up and down.(She's just a kid, perverts out there!)

Then, she saw Naruto looking at her, with a frightened expression.

"I'm sorry, Hinata-chan. I'm sorry, Hinata-chan", he said, over and over again.

"U-um, uhh-uhh, N-Naruto-kun, c-c-could you do something about this wetness?", asked Hinata, shivering.

"Right. What to do what to do what to do what to do what to do what to do Got it!", said Naruto.

"Futon:Teikietsu Shouheki no Jutsu", shouted Naruto.

Suddenly, a kind of big cyclone of wind surrounded Naruto, which made a mess of his room.

It also did make Hinata lose her jacket.

After a few seconds, Naruto managed to tone it down to a gentle whirlwind, and got Hinata completely dry.

He then retrieved Hinata's jacket for her, saying all the time how sorry he was.

Hinata, being her usual, shy self, of course, forgave Naruto every time he apologized and when he wouldn't listen, took a page out of Hana's book, and bonked him in the head.

"Ne, Hinata-chan, not you too?!", asked Naruto.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, but that was the only way to make you stop.", said Hinata, worry evident in her face.

Naruto calmed down, processed what Hinata said, and then said "Arigatou, Hinata-chan".

"Oh, I forgot, let me help you clean up this place.", said Hinata.

"Don't worry, Hinata-chan, I'll clean it up myself", said Naruto, proceeding to use his trademark jutsu.

"What time is it, Naruto-kun?", asked Hinata.

"Time, to go meet Hana-chan.", he replied.

They left the house at the mercies of the shadow clones, who dispersed themselves after they were done with the cleaning, leaving a satisfied Naruto.

* * *

**At the Training Posts**

"What took you guys so long?", asked an irate Hana.

"Well, things came up and....", trailed off Naruto.

"Um, can we begin our training?", asked Hinata.

"Fine, we might as well", said Hana.

* * *

**Still at the Training Posts**

The sun had set, just a few minutes ago.

The three were done for the day.

"Right, Hana-chan. How come you haven't told us yet, about yourself?", asked Hinata.

"Um, well, the thing of the fact of the matter of the matter is that..", stuttered Hana.

"Spit it out, Hana-chan", said Naruto.

"I really don't think I can explain everything to you guys, yet. Just, wait for, like um, 4 years or so. You'll get full explanations, along with proofs.", said Hana.

Hana was met by half lidded glares.

"I'm really sorry, but if I told you now, you guys wouldn't believe me. Seriously.", said Hana.

After a minute of silence, Naruto said, "Fine. But we will want detailed explanations. For sure."

"Fine with me.", said Hana.

The three were lying down, looking at the sky. They were lying down, spread eagled, linking their hands with each other.

"Hana-chan?", asked Naruto.

"Yes?"

"I really don't know how or why you came here, but...."

"But what?"

"Arigatou!", said the voices of Naruto and Hinata.

Hana started beaming. "It's my pleasure", she said.

All three got up at the same time.

Naruto attacked Hinata's lips with his promptly.

Hana, sat back and watched the scene for a few minutes with a look of pure bliss.

"Hinata-chan, Naruto-kun, I hate to break up this party, but, seriously, I'm kind of getting hungry."

"I guess you're right. So let's go.", said Naruto.

"Um, Hana-chan, didn't you say that there was a 'truly fantastic place which we could hit for dinner'?", asked Hinata.

'Oh yes, I almost forgot!", said Hana, bubbling up with enthusiasm. "I know the perfect place for dinner. Its called Curry House Cooking Ganesha!"

"Curry House Cooking Ganesha?!", asked Naruto.

"Yes! They serve all sorts of curry there. I know they guys that run it too. Those guys have gone through a lot of stuff. But their redeeming point is their curry. Its something else! They have different types of curry for different types of people – diet curries for the girls, Ramen curry for guys like you Naruto-kun, and lots more.", said Hana, in hyper mode.

"The place has got Ramen curry? I've gotta try this", said Naruto, becoming hyper himself. Ramen was one of the few things that could, from this point, truly send Naruto into hyperactivity.

"Let's go!", said Hana. The three left.

* * *

**At Curry House Cooking Ganesha**

The three entered the shop.

It was a modest, normal looking shop, with bar like seats and tables alike.

"Hello, welcome to Curry House Cooking Ganesha, where you can get the type of curry you like!", said a cheery woman, who was dressed in a waitress' outfit.

She took one look at Hana, and ran up to her and hugged her. "Oh, my goodness, Hana, its been a really long time. How are you doing?", she asked.

"Oh, I'm fine, I'm fine.", said Hana, releasing herself from the warm hug.

"Meet my friends Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuga. Guys, this is Yui Sonezaki", said Hana.

"Pleased to meet you both!", said Yui, "And please call me Yui-san, if you wish."

"Same here", said Naruto, speaking both for himself and Hinata.

"And where is your boyfriend, Yui-san?", came a question from Hana.

"Oh, he's out to handpick some of the ingredients. Why don't you three get a table while I bring you some rassi?", said Yui.

"What's rassi?", asked the ever clueless Naruto.

"You just taste it and see. You'll understand.", said Yui, and came back with three glasses of rassi for the three.

Naruto drank it all in a single gulp.

"Hey, its sweet", said Naruto.

"Mine tastes like mango", said Hinata.

"And mine is salty, as usual. You know me too well, Yui-san.", said Hana.

"Yes, well, I give the same explanation I gave to Shinji-kun. The point of knowing the customers' preferences, is to please them.", said Yui.

Just then, someone opened the door and came through. Yui left the table to meet the person.

It was a man, of maybe some twenty four years, who wore a bandanna, and was holding something like a cigarette between his lips.

"Customers, Yui-chan? Could you get them to wait for a bit?", asked the man.

"Its Hana-chan.", said Yui.

"Oh, is it?", said the man, popping over to the table where our heroes were sitting.

"Hi there, Hana-chan. How are you doing? And who are these two?", asked the man.

"Oh, hi. Guys, this is Makito Koenji. He's the chef around here. Makito-san, this is Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuga.", said Hana.

"Nice to meet you two", said Makito, shaking their hands.

"Same here.", said Naruto.

"Um, is that a cigarette in your mouth, Koenji-san?", asked Hinata.

"This?", asked Koenji, pointing to his mouth. When Hinata nodded, Koenji produced three similar sticks, and gave one to each, telling them to bite into it.

"Cinnamon!", said Hinata, surprised.

"Yep, its very beneficial to the body and health, and I as much a cinnamon addict as I am a curry addict.", said Makito, adding, "Please call me Makito-san."

"Right, um, so, let's get to the.. um, the...... the eating! Yeah! That's what we came here for, and here's my order – I want ground beef curry.", said Hana.

"Curry Ramen for me!", said Naruto.

"Um, I'd like yam ball curry.", said Hinata.

"Yup, your orders will be here in fifteen minutes, please wait until then.", said Makito, donning an apron, and slipping behind the counter.

Fifteen minutes later, their orders were served by Yui.

"Here you go, guys! One ground beef curry, curry Ramen and yam ball curry.", said Yui, adding "Give a shout if you need anything else!", before leaving.

Hinata rather liked the yam ball curry. It was delicious. But, she saw the look on Naruto's face, and was, um, surprised.

Hana, was enjoying her curry too.

Naruto, though, was in heaven. Never had he experienced curry. He liked the curry itself, and combined with his beloved Ramen, it was the least he could do to stop himself from ascend the flying chariot to the aforementioned place that most people want to reach if they die. Naruto could have been elected as Hokage that very moment, and for that moment, it would not have mattered to him at all. He was in heaven with his curry Ramen.

After they were done, they settled the bill with Yui, who told them to spread the word about this place, as it was relatively new, and told them to visit again.

They left telling goodbye to both Makito and Yui.

* * *

**Outside Curry House Cooking Ganesha**

"We're done here. We'll meet tomorrow here, for a full day's shopping. I will pay for all that we buy, so just bring yourselves here, OK?", said Hana.

"But why do we have to go for shopping?", asked Naruto.

"Hinata-chan, would you like to do the honors?", asked Hana, and on seeing Hinata reply negatively, proceeded to bonk Naruto on the head.

"Baaaaka! Its mostly to remove the kick me sign that is plastered all over your body!", said Hana.

"She means your orange jumpsuit, Naruto-kun, and a few other things.", said Hinata, knowing that Naruto was giving confused looks.

"Fine, I'll do it!", said Naruto.

"Goodbye, Naruto-kun, Hinata-chan.", said Hana, and she left.

Hinata and Naruto proceeded to go kiss kiss for a few minutes, and hugged each other. They both made their way to the Hyuga compound, where Naruto gave one last, long kiss to Hinata and left.

* * *

**Outside Curry House Cooking Ganesha**

Naruto, Hinata, and Hana had come exactly at the same time, at nine in the morning.

"Hello, both of you. Ready for your shopping trip, Naruto-kun?", asked Hana, brightly.

"Hai!", replied both Naruto and Hinata.

* * *

**Tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock..... DING!**

* * *

**Outside Curry House Cooking Ganesha**

Loaded with the day's shopping as the three were, they decided to drop everything at Naruto's house, as what Hinata and Hana had purchased for themselves were very little.

Hinata and Hana had a great time bonding with each other, while poor Naruto played the part of the middleman, the guy being dragged by women all over the place.

But he couldn't deny that the changes were great.

Naruto had gotten a black flack jacket, underneath which he wore a gray full hand shirt, and black pants, all of which bore a medium sized orange spiral similar to his seal mark, at strategic points – he had wanted orange so badly, that the girls conceded this mark on his shirt.

He'd also gotten black sandals, and a black utility pouch for shurikens and kunais.

Talking about weapons, Naruto had bought a whole new set of shurikens, kunais and a giant shuriken.

The girls had not bought any outfits, though. But they did buy some shurikens and kunais.

They'd also bought some books on which, surprisingly, Naruto had shown some interest.

Since they'd bought additional sets of Naruto's clothes, they were loaded.

All in all, they were content.

Then, Hana said, "Oh, Naruto-kun. Thanks for bearing with our, pushiness. For tomorrow, we'll meet here at seven in the morning. Hinata-chan and I are going to help you by giving you a few tips, aren't we, Hinata-chan?"

On seeing that Hinata agreed, Naruto exclaimed, "Fine, but we're in front of this great curry restaurant, and not eating when we're near such a place is torturous!"

At this, both Hana and Hinata giggled, and Hana linked arms with both Naruto and Hinata, and entered the shop.

* * *

**At the park near Ganesha**

The three sat on one of the benches.

"Tonight's a full moon night", remarked Hana.

"There are lots of stars out there, and the moon looks very beautiful.", said Hinata, clasping her hands.

"But, seriously, Hinata-chan", said Naruto, whispering, "to me, you are more beautiful than the moon."

"Na-Naruto-k-kun", said Hinata, blushing madly.

"I'm really serious, Hinata-chan, have you seen yourself when you smile? Your face is so radiant like the moon, so brilliant, I feel that I'm understating it.", said Naruto.

"He's right, Hinata-chan", said the remaining female member of the trio.

"Naruto-kun", said Hinata, losing her blush, smiling.

"See? You're proving my point by-", at this point, Naruto's lips were cleanly sealed with the pearly lips of Hinata's.

At this point, Hana took out a flute and started playing a tune which fit the mood.

The intensity of the couple's kissing increased, as Hana played her flute with closed eyes.

Hana stopped playing as soon as the two broke apart.

"Well, Naruto-kun, Hinata-chan, I think its time I left. Bye!", said Hana, leaving.

"Was it just me, or did Hana-chan's voice sound a bit choked?", asked Naruto.

"I think you are right, Naruto-kun. She knows that we are her friends. Hopefully, she'll approach us with her problems in time.", said Hinata.

The two took one last look at the moon, admiring its beauty, and jumped away.

* * *


	2. Burakkuouto Highway Blues

**HELLO PEOPLE THIS IS SMOKIN'OKEN WHO'S BACK WITH THE NEXT CHAPTER OF *BONK***

**Hit by a rattle. Again.**

**Smokin'Oken just looked up and shouted, "What did I do to you?"**

**Another rattle finds its target.**

**RIGHT, RIGHT! I DON'T OWN THE NARUTOVERSE, OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS.**

**Now that's over with, shall we get to the story?**

**Before that, a question.**

**Why is the world so sophisticated?**

**Because there are a lot of fights!! **

**Get it? So'fist'icated?**

***BONK***

**Not another rattle. Right, on with the story.**

* * *

**At Naruto's house**

There really seemed to be no way to wake up Naruto.

So, what can two kunoichis do to wake up a loudmouthed, hyperactive ninja?

Both Hana and Hinata shrugged, and used Mizu Parapara no Jutsu.

The impromptu cold shower resulted in a completely drenched, spluttering Naruto.

"Oh, man! I cleaned this room only yesterday! Now I have to do it all over again!", exclaimed the wet guy.

"Um, Naruto-kun, today's the day of the Chunin exam finals.", said the delicate voice of Hinata.

"And you wouldn't wake up at all. So there was no other way..", trailed off Hana.

"Damn it! Next you girls will think of something like Alarm Clock no Jutsu...."

The reactions were varied. As light bulbs went off on Hana's face, Hinata remained calm and composed, and Naruto pointed his finger at himself, and stabbed his forehead, muttering angrily, "I need this, I need more than this. Now I had to go give her ideas!"

Then, the two dragged Naruto out of his bed and forced him to do his daily chores.

Meanwhile, Hana and Hinata were chatting amiably about Naruto's opponent, namely Neji Hyuuga.

"He's really strong, you know. He is from the Side Branch of our family, and yet he is considered to be the Genius of his generation. He's managed to learn the techniques that are only accessible to the Main Family, by just watching them in action.", said Hinata.

"But, you really can't underestimate Naruto-kun, you know? He's also strong. He actually has one weapon that as far as I know, no one has been able to use successfully.", said Hana.

"And what is that, Hana-chan?", asked Hinata.

A grinning Hana replied, "Its himself. He's not known as the most unpredictable, knuckle headed, ninja, for nothing. We helped remove his hyperactivity. Trust me, he's good, in ways you can't imagine."

"Um, Hana-chan, does you knowing about this have something to do with who you are and where you are from?", came from the girl with the delicate voice.

"Yes, Hinata-chan. And I know this for sure. Again, please trust me on this count. If you want, I can swear that I'm telling the truth."

"It is not necessary, Hana-chan. I believe you, and I think I can confidently speak for Naruto too by saying that he would also agree."

At this point, Hana slowly moved forward, and hugged Hinata.

"You're great, Hinata-chan, the best friend a girl could ever ask for. Arigatou.", said Hana.

As Hinata and Hana sat back, Naruto came, donning his black flack jacket, gray shirt and black pants.

"OK, Naruto-kun, taken your equipment?", asked Hana.

"Check", said Naruto.

"Gone over the things that you have been taught?", asked Hinata.

"Check!", said Naruto again.

"Then, let's go!", said Hana, brightly.

But no one moved.

"And where are we going?", asked Naruto.

"Three guesses, and the first two don't count.", said Hana.

"Right, I got it. Let's go, Hana-chan, Hinata-chan!", said Naruto, dragging the two out of his house by their hands, creating two shadow clones to clean up the place and lock it up.

* * *

**At Curry House Cooking Ganesha**

"Seriously speaking though, why are we at a curry shop this early in the morning?", asked Naruto.

"Why should we be at a curry shop at all this morning?", countered Hana.

"What do you mean?"

"Silly. Why should we be at a curry shop at all?"

"Um, to eat?"

"Right. That was the billion ryo question, and you don't get the money."

Just then, Yui came to take their orders. Though, she didn't take Naruto's order.

"Hey, what about mine, Yui-san?", came the indignant voice.

"Well, Naruto-kun, you're going to fight today, aren't you?", asked Yui.

"Yes, yes I am."

"Well, then, Makito-kun's gonna prepare a special curry he used to prepare back when we were in our old shop – this curry was particularly favored by sports persons and those who required the stamina and strength of one-"

"Could you explain all of that in Japanese, please?"

Yui was kind of fuming, but she reigned in her temper. It wouldn't do any good to deter a guy who was going to fight that day, by punching him, right?

"Makito-kun's making a surprise curry for you!", said Yui brightly.

"Really? OboyoboyOboyoboyOboyoboyOboyoboyOboyoboyOboyoboyOboyoboyOboyoboy. I'm sure it will be good. I'm looking forward to it.", said Naruto, returning to his seat.

Now, she'd done it. She'd sent the kid into hyperactivity. Anyway, she went and told Makito about the situation.

Makito was never against any challenge.

Soon, the three got their curries, and Naruto enthusiastically took out his chopsticks and eagerly attacked his curry.

As soon as he took a few bites though, Naruto reeled back, as if he'd been hit by a powerful wind.

"This taste – it's so light, that I feel like I'm not even eating at all!".

He whooped for joy, as he dug into his food even more enthusiastically.

Yes, Hana and Hinata were looking a bit strangely at Naruto.

Scratch that, just Hana was looking strangely at Naruto.

But Naruto was 'digging enthusiastically into his food'.

Meaning he didn't care about the rest of the world at that point.

Soon after, they were done with their food.

Naruto was like a kid on a sugar high, while thanking Makito and Yui.

"And, Naruto-kun?", said both Yui and Makito.

When Naruto implied that he was listening to them, they continued.

"All the best for your success in the Chunin exam finals!"

At that, Naruto's smile was wiped off his face.

He became kind of serious, and thanked the two for the help, that is their curry.

"I swear, its so fulfilling that I feel as if I've eaten and not eaten at the same time.", he said.

The two smiled and waved goodbye as the three left their shop.

"What do you think about that kid?", asked Yui.

"He's different. He's something else. He's good. He'll do good. Just wait and watch.", said Makito, cryptically.

Yui did agree with him, and decided to wait and watch.

* * *

**At an unknown location**

Raido Namiashi was your typical, everyday, Konoha Jonin.

His pay was good, and consequently, he felt his life was good.

Today, he was to stand near the Hokage and help him if necessary.

But then, there was a knock on the door of his apartment.

He opened the door to see Jiraiya-sama.

"Raido-san, I need you to do a favor for me. Let's discuss this outside. Come on.", said Jiraiya.

Since he was going to leave himself, a few minutes later, he locked his house up early.

He went to a secure place with Jiraiya-sama, and heard him out.

After he was done, Raido smiled. "Agreed, Jiraiya-sama", he said.

The tow then left, in a parting of ways.

* * *

**Outside the Chunin exam finals arena**

"Right, Naruto-kun. Before you go in for the finals, I wish you all the best from the deepest part of my heart.", said Hinata.

"Naruto-kun, this might not help you in the upcoming fights, but, Gaara-kun still has hope. He has a chance to reform.", said Hana.

"He does? But how? He looks like he won't listen to reason! Back in the hospital, he would have just killed me and Shikamaru, had it not been for Gai-sensei. He looked like he truly wanted to 'prove his existence' by killing us.", exclaimed a surprised Naruto.

After a bout of silence, Hana said, "I'm really sorry for not telling more, but, trust me, you'll understand when the time comes, and I mean it."

"Right. Wish me luck!", said Naruto brightly and was preparing to run into the arena, when he was caught by Hana.

"What, Hana-chan?!", asked an annoyed Naruto.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

Hinata went over to Naruto, and kissed him throughly, while Hana was busy buffing her nails, keeping her head turned to the other side, and making sure that no one else was watching.

"Thanks for that, Hinata-chan! Watch me defeat Neji. I made a vow on your blood, when you were defeated, that Neji would go down.", he said with a determined look.

Though Hinata was thinking that this was not possible, what Hana said while they were at Naruto's house popped into her mind.

"_He is the most unpredictable, knuckle headed ninja"_

She decided to put her money on Naruto. In other words, support him like there was no tomorrow.

Then, Naruto hugged Hana, who was, to say the least, surprised.

"Since the day you came, I feel different. I keep thanking my lucky stars that I recovered fully two days before I was actually supposed to, and now, come to think of it, that Hinata-chan too has recovered fully with no ill effects from her fight. Arigatou, Hana-chan."

Hana then released herself from their hug.

"Now, go show the world what a new you can do! The two of us will be supporting you fully. Go and win, Naruto-kun.", said Hana, enthusiastically.

Naruto then began to run in the direction where the entrance for contestants was, waving to Hinata and Hana.

"Hinata-chan, you'll be surprised by the fight today. Naruto will be stellar with his performance.", said Hana.

"All right, Hana-chan. I'll be worried about him though.", came the reply.

"Hey, I'm worried about him too. But, switching to a serious topic, can I consider your Genjutsu dispelling abilities to be the best?", asked Hana.

"Y-yes, why?", faltered Hinata.

"Trust me – you'll be needing them before long, today is going to be a long day. A really long day.", said Hana, dragging out the really part.

"Come on, now, Hinata-chan, let's find ourselves a pair of seats.", said Hana, grabbing Hinata's hand and pulling her to the visitors' entrance.

* * *

**At the stands**

"Ah, here are three free seats! One for you, one for me and one for Kiba-kun who is coming here right about now.", said Hana.

And true to her word, Kiba was running along in their direction. When he saw the unknown person near Hinata, though, and understood that Akamaru wasn't giving any warning signs, he slowed down to a fast trot.

He reached the two in a few seconds.

"Hello, Hinata-chan, and who is this pretty girl next to you?", asked Kiba, folding his hands behind his head, with a casual smile.

"Hello, Kiba-kun, Akamaru-chan", said Hinata, petting Akamaru on his head, "this is Hana Aikouka. Hana-chan, you know about Kiba, don't you?"

"Nice to meet you, Kiba-kun. Oh, there's something you should know.", said Hana, and leaned to whisper something into Kiba's ear, which, after twenty seconds, completely wiped out the smile that Kiba had held.

"All right, Hana-chan, I understood what you said.", said a seemingly defeated Kiba, as the three took their seats.

* * *

**The stands, at the seats further along from where Hinata, Hana and Kiba were sitting**

Sakura Haruno had geared up fully to support Naruto. Ino Yamanaka, though, was geared up to support Shikamaru.

Sakura knew that Naruto had been doing his utmost to prepare himself for his upcoming battle against Neji. She knew that, somehow, Naruto would win this match. If there was something Naruto would never go back on, it was his ninja way, his Nindo.

"Hey, forehead-girl!", called Ino, "do you know that girl who's sitting next to Kiba-kun?"

Sakura squinted in the direction that Ino told her. There was a girl, sitting next to Hinata and Kiba, who was wearing something red, which she couldn't quite make out from the distance.

"No, Ino-pig, I don't. May be Naruto knows her. We'll ask him later.", said Sakura.

Both Ino and Sakura made sure they were comfy, and prepared with bated breath for the matches.

"Look at Naruto, Ino-pig. He's changed, hasn't he? He's wearing all black now.", said Sakura.

"Yes", said Ino, noticing Naruto, "he seems, different, in some other way too. How, I can't place it."

* * *

**On the field**

All contestants with the notable exception of two were assembled behind a Konoha Jonin, namely, Genma Shiranui, though they didn't know it.

_'Where the hell is that Dosu guy from Otogakure?'_, was Shikamaru's unasked question.

_'Sasuke's got a match with Gaara. He wouldn't miss this match even if he'd lost all of his jutsu.' _were Naruto's thoughts on the matter.

Genma's voice rang out. "You two, stop fidgeting. Face the people, be proud. Out of the ninjas of many countries, you eight have been selected to fight for an advancement in ranks. Keep your head held high, and watch them."

Naruto looked up to see the sea of people looking expectedly at them.

But, he chose to only locate the three who had always believed in him, through hell and heaven.

Them being Hinata, Hana, and old man Hokage.

_Hmmm...old man Hokage from now on will become Hokage-sama, I guess. If anyone deserves respect, it should be that guy....no, that hero._

* * *

**At the Top Brass Box, namely where the Hokage and top brass guests are supposed to sit**

"I see that Sasuke Uchiha is missing. Has there been any word of his sighting?", asked Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage of Konoha, to Raido Namiashi, the Jonin who was stationed next to him.

"No, Hokage-sama. There has been no word of Sasuke Uchiha. A few ANBU teams have been deployed in search for him, though.", completed Raido.

Just then the Fourth Kazekage, of Sunagakure, arrived.

Sarutobi dismissed Raido, and said "Welcome, Kazekage-dono, I trust your journey was well and safe?"

"Yes, Hokage-dono. I guess it is better that this exam finals are being held here. You would have to expend a lot of energy coming to Suna, had it been held there, and strong though you are, I guess it would have been tiring even for you. Perhaps, the hunt for the Fifth Hokage should commence soon?"

asked the Kazekage, in a not unkind voice.

"Oh, no!", replied Sarutobi. "I still plan on holding this position for another five years or so. Please don't treat me like an old man!"

The Kazekage took his seat, and said, "I see that Sasuke Uchiha is missing. When will he arrive?"

"He will arrive in due time. Meanwhile, I think its time this tournament started.", replied Sarutobi, and told Raido to go down and check with Genma.

* * *

**On the field, a few minutes ago**

Genma then gathered the attention of all the fighters.

Taking out a piece of paper, he said, "There has been a slight change in the lineup for the fights. Please make sure you know who you're up against in the new lineup."

_'That Dosu I was supposed to fight isn't here! Was he......killed? Man, this is too troublesome.' _thought Shikamaru.

Then, Naruto raised his hand, asking Genma, "Sasuke Uchiha isn't here yet. What if he doesn't come?"

Genma's expression became grave. "He has time until his match to be here. If he isn't here by then, he will lose by default."

He continued. "The rules for these matches are the same as that of the Chunin exam preliminaries. The two fighters shall fight to either unconsciousness or death. But once I decide that the match is over, no matter whether unconscious or not, the match will be stopped."

Softening for a bit, he said, "Fight well", before resuming his needle shifting.

Just then, Raido appeared on the arena, next to Genma. After a few seconds, he left.

Then, Genma said, "The first fight is between Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuuga. Every other fighter please clear the field and watch the fight from the waiting area. Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuuga, stay on the field."

* * *

**At the Hokage's box**

Raido returned with Genma's approval to begin.

"Right, let's begin.", said Sarutobi to himself.

"Shinobis and kunoichis, lords and ladies, children, men and women – welcome to the Finals of the Chunin exams held here.", said Sarutobi, with a smile.

There were massive cheers all around from the stands.

"The contestants here have battled through harsh conditions and difficult opponents to compete for the title of Chunin. Therefore all of the four matches will be very interesting. Please stay and watch till the very end."

This was punctuated by more cheers and happy noises.

Sarutobi took his seat to watch the matches, especially looking forward to Naruto's and Sasuke's matches. Something had changed about Naruto, and hoping that the change was good, was looking forward to it.

* * *

**On the arena**

"Naruto Uzumaki, Neji Hyuuga, are you two ready?", asked Genma, holding a hand between the two.

On seeing them agreeing simultaneously, Genma removed his hand, jumped away and shouted "Fight!"

Neji had an ironic, bitter sneer on his face, saying, "You better give up, Naruto Uzumaki, you have no chance of winning."

"And why is that?", asked Naruto, narrowing his eyes.

"It is because you are not destined to win. Your destiny is to lose."

Naruto, at this point, silently snapped.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!", said Naruto.

Immediately, four clones were created.

_'It is true'_, thought Neji, _'Even the great Doujutsu, Byakugan, cannot tell the difference between shadow clones and an original bodies. The chakra needed is equally divided between the clones and the user.'_

The four clones moved to attack Neji.

"But in the end", said Neji as he spun to attack Naruto's clones, finishing off each of them with a single blow, "there is only one real body!"

Neji then rushed forward to attack the only Naruto remaining, which he presumed was the real Naruto.

Naruto was struck immediately in the heart by a single Jyuken strike, and he soon coughed up blood.

The whole stadium fell silent.

Strangely, Naruto began to laugh.

And even strangely, while everyone else in the stand seemed to be serious, only Hinata and Hana showed varying emotions. Hinata was worried for Naruto, because she knew that her cousin was very talented with the Jyuken, and she could still almost feel the pain of his Jyuken strikes.

Hana was smiling!

Naruto ceased his laughing, reducing the length of his mouth to a sardonic smile, and said, "I'm telling you, stop deciding things on your own. Underestimate me at your own risk!", and he disappeared!

Neji, to say the least was surprised, even more so when two more Naruto's sprang out from behind to attack. The two Naruto's had a grim expression.

They held out their fists, ready to punch the living daylights out of Neji.

But sadly, they were thrown around by a whirlwind like move.

Though, many did hear Neji shout, "Hakkesho Kaiten".

Up in the stands, Hinata's father, who was sitting beside his daughter Hanabi, was, to say the least, surprised. But he did manage to rein it in, and said to Hanabi, "Watch, for he is undoubtedly the best fighter that any Hyuuga generation has ever seen."

Back on Terra firma, Naruto had managed to learn something with the properties of the shadow clone he'd used to attack Neji, along with his own experience.

Neji had exhumed some sort of chakra shield.

Thinking of shields, Naruto was reminded of the jutsu he had spent a whole day on mastering.

Teikietsu Shouheki no Jutsu.

He'd also remembered what Gama-Sennin had said when he was teaching him.

"_It operates similar to the Rotation technique of the Hyuugas, but instead of chakra, you will be using wind."_

"_There are a few more uses for it, but I'll leave it to you to figure it out."_

He'd have to analyze the situation and come up with an effective opening in Neji's attack pattern to incorporate his trump card.

(I mean, he had to sic his new jutsu onto Neji.)

Though he felt that he sounded very cool thinking like that, as he was not really used to thinking like that, he was struggling to find a way to use his new technique.

"And is this how the next Hokage fights?", asked Neji with a sneer. "Do you think you're fit to be the next Hokage? Do you think anyone who works hard can become a Hokage? Those who become Hokage, are decided by destiny, for they're born with that destiny. You don't simply become a Hokage by trying hard. You have to be destined to become a Hokage. The only destiny that everyone shares though, is death."

Naruto couldn't contain his question any longer.

"What gives you the fricking right to decide who will become Hokage and who won't?"

At this, Neji loosened his forehead protector, and held it in his hands.

"This mark", said Neji, simply.

"The day Hinata-sama turned three, was a hellish day for the two of us. That was the day I was branded with this seal." Neji closed his eyes, continuing. "A ninja from Kumogakure had come for signing a long wished peace treaty in a move to end the Kumo-Konoha war. But that was just a farce. That ninja had wanted nothing but the Byakugan and its secrets. He had tried to do so by kidnapping Hinata-sama. But he failed because Hiashi-sama, Hinata-sama's father, managed to kill him. Kumo, though, blew up the situation, for they pursued the Byakugan relentlessly, and wanted Hiashi-sama's body as compensation. But instead, my father's body was sent as compensation. And why was that?"

On seeing that Naruto was speechless, he continued, saying "It was because he was born a few seconds later than Hiashi-sama. His fate was decided because he was born a few seconds late. Hiashi-sama's family was deigned the title of Main branch, while all others were branded as Side branch and with this mark. This mark gives complete control of our bodies to the Main branch. Once, my father's seal was activated, just because he was glaring at Hinata-sama!" At this point, uncharacteristically out of character for Neji, tears appeared in his eyes. He angrily wiped them off his eyes, and said, "So, you see? Fate is decided by destiny alone!", finished Neji, angrily.

Hinata, in the stands, was sobbing onto Hana's shoulders. Hana, of course, understanding what Hinata was going through, didn't mind a single bit. Hinata had started crying when Neji was berating Naruto for his dreams. Hana pushed up Hinata's chin, and wiped her tears, saying, "Am I right in saying the following?"

"Saying what?", asked Hinata. Hana's green eyes stared into Hinata's lavender orbs, each lost in the other's eyes.

On the ground, Naruto asked Neji, "Thanks for that small speech, bu tell me one thing. Who is slated to be the next head of the Hyuuga family?"

Neji, completely mystified by this question, replied, "Hanabi Hyuuga-sama. Why do you ask this?"

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu", said Naruto.

In the stands, Hana came back to reality.

She said, "That you'll change the Hyuugas for good!", as Naruto said, "Too bad! You lost the best clan leader you could have had. She would have changed the Hyuugas for good, for the better, and for the best!"

Naruto and all of his clones attacked Neji. Neji spun in his place, shouting "Hakkesho Kaiten". All the clones, except three, were fiercely attacked by Neji's Kaiten. Due to the endless stream of clones, Neji did not notice Naruto tossing around shurikens randomly. Leaves kept falling on the ground, and just before the last before clone was done for, Naruto had snapped. He'd thought of how Rock Lee(after his realization of how powerful he was, he decided that he respected him a lot) and Hinata had kept on fighting even though they were almost dying. As the two Naruto clones positioned themselves behind Neji, Naruto was prepared to shout something.

In the stands, Hana told to Hinata, "Please watch Naruto-kun defeat Neji-san, OK?"

Thinking, _"This is for Lee and Hinata-chan"_, Naruto shouted out, "Teikietsu Shouheki no Jutsu!"

Naruto subconsciously started pumping a lot of chakra into his jutsu, which resulted in the formation of a big cyclone which spun very fast, kicking up all the dust and the leaves which had fallen, while saying, "Konoha Senpuu!"

The dust ended up blinding Neji's eyes as he was a bit too late with defending them. As a result, he couldn't see the two Naruto clones, one of which gave him an uppercut, and the other struck a heavy blow on his heart.

Neji was completely thrown back, and hit the wall of the stadium, before he slumped.

Creating two more clones, Naruto made sure that Neji was properly down, and helped him up.

Neji realized he was being taken somewhere, as he'd just regained consciousness. When he saw Naruto, though, he felt surprised. He asked, "How is it that the dead last of his class was able to beat me, the Genius of my generation?"

"It's because I don't believe in destiny choosing a route for us. I know how it feels like to have a mark like yours - believe me, I do. And if I'd chosen to be like you, I'd have been a total opposite of what I'd have wanted to be. Also, the reason I was dead last, was because I couldn't do a jutsu which most ninjas could without even thinking – the Bunshin no Jutsu. If I was miserable at something, it was that. You're not a loser like me. So stop spouting crap about how destiny can't be changed. If a loser like me can defeat you, then most certainly, a genius like you can literally blow off the earth. "

Naruto continued. "One more thing. This is a piece of advice I want you to know, even if you didn't listen to anything else I said. Please give some support to Hinata-chan. Give her a chance, and I swear you'll be astounded by what she can do.", said Naruto, with a fierce look.

Neji looked at Naruto's face, and that was enough to convince him. He decided to give Hinata a chance.

Genma then said, "I hope you've understood something. Even a caged bird will try to escape its cage by using its beak. Its all in the desire to soar freely through the skies. This time, you have lost. But personally, I think you've broken free of your cage, and that, is a great victory."

Neji then coughed up some more blood, and Naruto's clones directly took him to the medics.

Then, the stadium became alive, with the sounds of clapping, laughter, and joy.

Hana, and Hinata were proud of Naruto, Sakura was shouting with all of her energy, and all of Naruto's friends gained a better opinion of him, even Shikamaru, who, though was grumbling about how he thought Naruto was a lame ass type like himself, and was receiving cheers and the like from the crowds.

Happy at his victory, Naruto basked in the presence of the cheers of the people. He then saw a bird soaring high, circling the stadium, in the sky, thinking, _"Next time, I will fight you again, Free Bird."_

* * *

**In the stands**

Hinata hugged Hana so hard that Kiba had to pry Hinata off Hana, for she was turning blue in the face.

"_Good!"_, thought Kiba, _"That idiot has gone a long way from being a dumb idiot to a good ninja."_

"Naruto-kun won!", said Hinata, for the first time in her life, breaking out of her shell of shyness, and started cheering loudly along with the crowd, becoming hyper.

Hana was very happy to see Hinata this happy, and was really glad that she chose this world – it was worth it.

She then thought of her boyfriend, who had chosen a world different from hers, and of many of her friends and their different worlds. Maybe she would call upon all of them to arrive here for a day or two, for a tournament of sorts.

And her boyfriend and his friends there for an extermination.

But for now, she would help along with the process of Naruto and Hinata's growth. And maybe get to meet Tsunade in the process.

Breaking out of her reverie, she saw that the crowds had settled down. The next fight was about to take place.

* * *

**At the Hokage's Box**

"That was a surprising match – I thought that that kid wasn't really good.", said the Kazekage.

"Well, he is improving, maybe he'll shock you another day too.", said the Hokage.

"Has Sasuke Uchiha been found yet?", he asked to Raido.

"No, Hokage-sama. Should we declare Sabaku no Gaara as the default winner?", questioned Raido.

"Why don't we delay the match, Hokage-dono? After all, I'm very eager to see how your top rookie of the year matches our Sabaku no Gaara.", said the Kazekage, who had heard the conversation.

"Fine", said the Hokage, to Raido. "Move Sasuke Uchiha's match to the last. But, if he doesn't arrive by then, he will have to forfeit his match."

Raido disappeared for a minute to convey the news to Genma. Then he returned and nodded to the Hokage.

* * *

**In the arena**

"Due to Sasuke Uchiha no being present, his match will be moved to the last.", said Genma, ignoring the boos and the negative reception from the spectators. "Will Shino Aburame and Sabaku no Kankuro please come for their fight?"

Kankuro paled, and whispered to Temari, "We have to be in full strength for the plan, right? What are you gonna do about your match?"

"I could care less. My opponent seems to be the lame ass type, as he described himself, and I intend to fight.", replied Temari.

Then, speaking out loud, Kankuro said, "I forfeit this match! I do not want to fight!"

Genma on hearing this calmly said, "Very well, the victory of the second match goes to Shino Aburame by default."

Shino calmly pushed his dark glasses further into the bridge of his nose. Something was wrong with his opponent's forfeit. So, something was bound to happen. Shino thought that he would, officially or unofficially fight this match, later, if it were the last thing he would do.

But, for now, he really wanted to see what else his former classmate could do.

Nearby, Shikamaru was grumbling about how his match was next because Kankuro had forfeited. He had half a mind right now to use Kage Mane no Jutsu to get hold of Kankuro and strangle the life out of him.

Naruto, who had returned to the competitors' viewing area, looked at Shikamaru. He tapped him on the shoulder, and nodded to the direction where Genma was.

"Shikamaru, I think you'll be able to show your true potential with this match – go beat that Sabaku no Temari.", said Naruto.

"Man, this is a drag. I don't wanna show my true potential.", whined Shikamaru.

Then, Naruto got a glint in his eyes. "Fine, Shikamaru, if you're not going to help yourself, then I'm gonna give you a helping hand." With that, Naruto successfully utilized his Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to throw Shikamaru into the arena.

"Oh, man! Thanks a lot, Naruto.", shouted out Shikamaru, sarcastically to Naruto.

"Yeah, well, you're welcome!", said Naruto, smirking, knowing that Shikamaru was being sarcastic.

"Oh man?! This is gonna be a drag! I've got to fight! And even more Mendokuse about this is that I have to fight a woman!", grumbled Shikamaru out loud.

Temari had heard that, and her veins had started popping out.

"Care to repeat that again?", she asked, whipping out her fan.

Shikamaru was right when he got up in the morning and thought, _'Man, this is gonna be a __**long**__ day.'_

Then, Genma asked, "Are the two of you ready to fight?"

When both nodded, he dived back, saying "Begin!"

He sighed, and dived into the battle.

* * *

**Tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock DING!**

* * *

"Kage Mane no Jutsu : Success!", said Shikamaru, sighing.

Temari, was, to say the least, surprised. "How did you capture me?", she asked, bewildered.

"Here, I'll help you", said Shikamaru, turning back.

Due to the jutsu, Temari also turned back.

To notice the hole from where her shadow was being captured.

When Shikamaru turned forward, she also turned forward, to see the hole where his shadow had gone through.

She knew she was being stupid when she'd used her fan like a melee weapon. She'd punched those two holes in the ground, when Shikamaru had been belittling her talent as a kunoichi. Maybe he had wanted those holes on the ground.

But it didn't matter anymore. When both of them raised their arms, she knew that she was....

"I forfeit", said Shikamaru, sighing again.

Going to win?!?!

Temari's eyes grew wider. What the hell was he thinking?

On seeing Temari's expression, Shikamaru said, "I'm nearly out of chakra – I'll be able to hold this jutsu only for the next minute. Though I'd planned out the next two hundred ways to defeat you, all of them are useless if I don't have any chakra."

Almost the whole arena went gaga except for a few, like the ANBU, the Hokage and the Kazekage, Naruto, Shino, Chouji, Ino, Hinata, and Hana.

Naruto, of course, on realizing his own potential, had realized all of his classmates' too. Hinata did know about him, Shino never showed any reactions, though he did know it, Shikamaru's teammates were intimate with the Nara family that they knew Shikaku-san's smarts had passed onto him, and Hana, well, somehow, she had a knowing gleam in her eyes.

Genma broke the reverie, by saying, "By forfeit, victory goes to Sabaku no Temari."

Then, the crowds started clapping. But Temari knew something. This applause was not for her. This applause was for this kid who'd beaten her. His name was Shikamaru Nara, right? He looked kinda cute too.

The people went on clapping, for a good while. No one had seen a strategist for a long, long time. Only Shikaku Nara was as good as him, and they hadn't seen him in a match either, for a long time.

Grumbling again, under his breath, Shikamaru returned to the stands, where the fighters conglomerate.

* * *

**At the Hokage's Box**

"That, was a very surprising, and an enlightening match, Hokage-dono.", said the Kazekage.

"Yes, it was. That kid is good. He's known for his legendary laziness. Though, he could've won the match.", said the Hokage.

Then, he turned his head to Raido, and asked him, "Has Sasuke Uchiha arrived yet?"

"No, Hokage-sama. There has been no word of Sasuke Uchiha.", said Raido.

The Hokage sat back, closing his eyes, thinking deeply.

"Please give Sasuke Uchiha some grace time. Ten minutes is all I ask.", said the Kazekage.

"And why, may I ask, are you so interested in his match?", asked the Hokage.

"Well, after all, I want to see the best of this generation, the best of Konoha and Suna, clash with each other. I am seriously looking forward to this epic match.", replied the Kazekage. With a high amount of conviction.

"All right, I will agree. Raido-san, please tell Genma-san to give Sasuke Uchiha ten minutes' grace. Any later than that, and he WILL be declared as defeated by default. Make no mistake – ten minutes only.", said the Hokage.

Complying with the Hokage's instructions, Raido went on to announce the same to Genma, who also relayed it to the spectators.

* * *

**The Stands**

Hana suddenly got a nagging feeling that wouldn't leave her at all. She felt she'd forgotten something. Something big.

"Hinata-chan", she whispered into Hinata's ears, "Keep your eyes open, and prepare yourself for trouble."

Hinata was a little surprised on hearing Hana's words, but, still, she steeled herself for any oncoming disasters.

When there was an uproar from the spectators a few minutes later, Hana was hoping that she didn't make a major mistake, or else she would blame herself for it.

* * *

**The Arena**

'Three....Two.....One', thought Genma, looking at his time piece, when suddenly, in a swirl of leaves, two humans appeared.

'Finally', thought Genma.

"Are we, um, kind of, you know, possibly, by some marginally narrow freak chance, late?", asked Kakashi.

"Well, a second later, and I doubt even the Hokage's word could have allowed Sasuke to pursue his fight.", said Genma.

The crowds went ballistic, on seeing that their most favorite Uchiha had appeared for his fight. They started clapping so hard, that most of their hands went numb.

Suddenly, in a swirl of sand, Gaara was on the arena too.

"Right", muttered Genma. "Its time to begin. Sasuke Uchiha versus Sabaku no Gaara....."

"Begin!"

* * *

And the fight began. Gaara stood there, just like that, doing what he did best.

Allowing his Sand Armor to guard him.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was a flurry of activity. He had managed to copy Lee's Taijutsu, but since his body wasn't trained to be adept at it like Lee, he really wasn't as fast as him. But still, he was a force to be reckoned with, as he'd managed to score a kick here and a punch there, on Gaara.

Gaara wasn't relatively hurt though, due to the Sand Armor.

But then, suddenly, Sasuke disappeared out of view.

Gaara was kind of stunned, when he felt blows on several parts of his body, and they seemed to be increasing by the minute.

He was then, surrounded by a globe of sand. Sasuke tried throwing shurikens, but they failed. He then tried Taijutsu moves, but the sand almost impaled him, forming needle like structures.

He then decided he'd had enough, and then, for no apparent reason, started backing off.

He then started climbing the walls of the stadium, till he reached a good height. Then, using chakra to stick his feet to the walls, he then gathered chakra onto his hands for the Chidori attack.

'Chidori, eh? This is what Hana-chan mentioned. Let's see what Sasuke-teme's attack is really capable of.', thought Naruto.

The blue chakra started to crackle in his hands. Gathering as much of it as he could, he raised his arm a bit, and started to run.

The path traced by his hand on the ground cut, it like a hot knife cuts through butter. Destroying the ground on the way, Sasuke struck the sand dome.

As the sand spiked out, he avoided the fatal attack, luckily, and was left with a cut here, a scratch there.

His attack went through it.

* * *

Sabaku no Gaara was shocked.

'What is this warm liquid?', thought Gaara.

'Is this....blood?', thought a stunned Gaara.

'Do not worry, mother. You will feast upon the blood of a strong prey........today!', thought Gaara, and he started chanting vigorously.

* * *

**In the stands**

Temari and her team's sensei, Baku, had seen the formation of a third eye.

'No', Temari thought. 'That's the third eye. He's going to use _that_ jutsu!'

"What is he doing?", asked Baku loudly, "He'll miss the signal if he uses that jutsu!"

Nearby, Shino had heard Baku. 'Signal?', he thought. Something was strange. Why would the team from Suna wait for a signal? Also, Gaara seemed too strong to be true. He also had an insane amount of control over sand.

'It's like as if a demon....', at this point, Shino's thoughts trailed off, as he realized a few things about what made Gaara and Naruto different from normal ninjas.

'It all fits', thought Shino. 'Gaara has a sand like demon inside him, just like Naruto has the Kyuubi sealed inside of him. So, obviously, there are more beasts just like the Kyuubi no Youko, which are embodiments of chakra, and as powerful as them. Gaara seems to rely too much on his powers and does not fight in the purest sense of fighting. His insane control over sand shows that he has some sort of inner being sealed inside him. The sand seems to move on its own, to protect him. Obviously, if a demon were sealed inside of him, it would strive to protect its host, as demons consider their survival as their highest priority.'

'But, sadly, I need concrete proof before I can conclude anything.', thought Shino.

Then, that sixth sense of danger pushed into his brains weird feelings. Not allowing them to show through, Shino Aburame adjusted his glasses, having the idea that his proof would not be long off in revealing itself.

* * *

**The Hokage's Box**

At the Hokage's box, the Yondaime Kazekage gave a sharp nod.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had not missed this action.

* * *

After that nod, all of hell broke loose, in the form of Oto and Suna ninjas.

The invasion had begun, and the stadium was put under a Genjutsu.

Of course, the able ninjas realized the trap immediately, and acted accordingly.

Gaara had been taken away by his siblings Kankuro and Temari.

Genma decided that the match was not over, and told Sasuke to follow him. Sasuke gladly obeyed him.

Meanwhile, Naruto, Shikamaru and Sakura were sent on a mission by Kakashi to follow Gaara. He sent Pakkun, his dog, to help them track down Gaara.

While Naruto and his fellow Genin were tracking down Gaara, Sasuke had caught up with the Sabaku siblings. Kankuro decided to slow him down, and allow his siblings to move further.

But then, Shino showed up to Sasuke's surprise, and told Sasuke to leave. Shino was going to fight his unofficial match against Kankuro.

Then, Sasuke flew in pursuit of Gaara. He faced Gaara, but had lost very easily.

Naruto then arrived, and seeing the pinned down Sakura, had gone into a rage. He fought Gaara to a standstill, and had defeated him with a single punch.

He then told Gaara about the type of treatment he'd received, and predicted that Gaara had received the same type of treatment too. He then told that he'd only survived this long, to beat him, only because he had many people that were dear to him, that were worth saving, and that he'd pay his own life as a price to see them live happily.

Unknown to either boy, Gaara and Naruto had bonded in a strange way – understanding each other's pains.

What Naruto told, shook Gaara to the core. He decided that he should start by making amends with his siblings, and when they came to take him away, he first apologized to them, and then thanked them. If they thought this was strange, they did not show it. But they felt glimmer of hope, that their wayward sibling was on the right track.

Back with the Hokage, once the Yondaime Kazekage revealed himself to be the Sannin Orochimaru, Raido revealed himself to be Jiraiya. A barrier was put up by the Sound Four, which incinerated anything that came into contact with it. One of the ANBU's had found it out the hard way, and never lived to realize his mistake.

As Orochimaru mocked at this event for being an almost reunion, he used his jutsu, 'Edo Tensei', to resurrect the first two Hokages. Of course, he tried to resurrect the fourth too, but Jiraiya had stopped him by beginning to spar with him. Blowing away Jiraiya for a second, Orochimaru inserted two kunai with kanji written on paper attached to them into the heads of the Shodai and the Nidaime Hokage.

As they became mindless killing machines, all Sarutobi could do was fight them to a standstill till he summoned Enma, his personal summon. Then, Jiraiya switched targets with Sarutobi. Sarutobi found that he was not the ninja he once was - the hard way.

Jiraiya barely managed to keep the two Hokages at bay, but his reward for doing so, was the worst.

He saw that Enma was trying to hold back the sword Orochimaru used, which had already stabbed Sarutobi. Sarutobi had a look which he knew to be that of defeat. He'd already seen this look on one more person.

Jiraiya had personally wanted to help with the sealing of the Kyuubi no Youko – he wanted it to be destroyed differently. But, the discovery of the new Jutsu was too late – he'd arrived just at the time when Minato had pulled the Kyuubi into Naruto and had died.

As dejavu struck Jiraiya, he couldn't help but lifelessly watch as Sarutobi said his last words, pulled Orochimaru's arms and departed for the afterlife. He could do nothing as the Sound Four carried away a wounded Orochimaru.

Jiraiya then screamed out loud, and collapsed, partly due to exhaustion, and partly due to trauma.

Meanwhile, the Hyuugas, the old Ino-Shika-Cho trio, the Aburames and the Inuzukas fought the invading ninjas with minimum casualties.

Shibi Aburame arrived just in time to stop the poison spreading in his son's body, the poison he'd contracted during his fight and subsequent victory with Kankuro.

The invasion had failed. And as Sarutobi told in his last words, the Will of Fire burnt brightly in each and every Konoha ninja.

And as to what Hana had forgotten, she'd forgotten about the three headed snake monster that Orochimaru summoned to attack. Thankfully, with some help from Hinata, who sent her flying through the sky with a single Jyuken strike, she managed to hit the eyes of the three headed monster, barely, with a jutsu of her own, that sprayed a stream of acid, in time for Asuma Sarutobi to wipe it out.

* * *

**Near the Hokage Tower**

The sky was black, with dark clouds hovering about. The ninja population, all of whom were dressed in black, came to pay their respects to the departed 'Professor', Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Many of the kunoichis were crying, even Mitarashi Anko, who was angrily wiping her eyes off.

Next to Naruto, were Iruka Umino and Konohamaru Sarutobi. Konohamaru was also trying hard not to cry, but he ended up crying anyway.

"Why?", asked Naruto.

As Iruka turned, Naruto asked him, "Why did the old man die?", quietly.

"You see", said Iruka, "When a person lives his life, his parents, siblings, friends, comrades, subordinates, and people from different lands – he makes a lasting impression on them. He creates bonds with them – bonds that he would protect, even at the price of his life. Such a person would sacrifice anything for their near and dear ones. So....", trailed off Iruka.

"I think I understand a bit of what you said, if not all. Thank you, Iruka-sensei.", said Naruto.

Naruto laid the single flower on the grave, looked at Sarutobi's photo, and left the place.

Hinata told her father and cousin that she would be home a bit later, that she wanted more time to mourn.

Saddened themselves, Hiashi and Neji left home, leaving Hinata to her own devices.

As Naruto prepared to leave, Hinata caught his eye, and he approached her, slowly.

They hugged, and stared into each other's eyes. "We forgot someone.", said Hinata, simply.

Naruto hadn't seen Hana during the funeral. Turning back to the grave, he saw that she was kneeling before it, with her face in front of the photo, and was shaking.

"Is she.....crying?", asked Naruto to Hinata.

"Yes, she is, Naruto-kun. Let's go and try to console her.", said Hinata.

(Cue theme – Sadness and Sorrow, Naruto OST)

Holding her hand, Naruto walked towards the Sandaime Hokage's grave. He then sat next to Hana, and Hinata kneeled next to Hana, on her other side.

Hana lifted her head, to show her beautiful green eyes, which showed the pain she was going through. To show her beautiful face, which was streaked with tears.

Hinata and Naruto experienced a heavy feeling in their chests, on seeing their friend crying thus.

'Hana-chan......', thought Naruto.

Hinata couldn't stop it. She let her tears flow down her cheeks.

Naruto managed to control his tears, though, his eyes were filled with them.

Then, it began to rain. It was like as if Mother Nature Herself, could understand the pain the three were going through.

Hinata held her hand, and Hana flew onto Hinata, embracing her tightly.

"Let it all out, Hana-chan.", said Hinata, her lavender eyes still full of tears.

Naruto bowed down, trying to hide his tears.

Nearby, Jiraiya took one last look at the scene, and left to sit upon the Hokage mountain and look at the sunset, hoping there would be one.

Hana then stopped crying, because she'd cried away all of her tears.

"It hurts, Hinata-chan.", said Hana, quietly.

"What hurts, Hana-chan?", was the reply.

"I knew that Sarutobi-sama was going to die.... but I did nothing to help prevent it.", said Hana, and staring into Hinata's eyes, started crying all over again.

This startled both Naruto and Hinata. "Bu- but how did you know that, Hana-chan?", asked Naruto.

At this, Hana stopped crying, and took out a hanky and wiped her face with it.

"Naruto-kun, Hinata-chan, I think its time I told you about myself.", said Hana.

"Follow me."

With that, Hana left, and Naruto and Hinata rapidly followed her to Curry House Ganesha, where they silently had a plate of curry each, and paid the money, and left for the Hokage mountain.

* * *


	3. Afuterru Darku

_**Let's make this as plain and simple as plain and simple can get.**_

_**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AND ANY RELATED CHARACTERS. BUT THE OC'S ARE MINE AND MINE ALONE!**_

_**Now that that's done, let's get to the story.**_

_**Oh, I don't own the songs I mention, they are owned by their respective owners, and I don't own Addicted to Curry as well.**_

_**PS – If, (AND I MEAN, IF)I owned Bleach, I'd change the names Zaraki Kenpachi and Yachiru Kusajishi to Zaraki and Yachiru......**_

_**Kenpocky! Well, Yachiru would like that anyway.**_

* * *

**The Hokage mountain**

**(Cue theme – Asian Kung Fu Generation - Rewrite)**

"I love this place.", said Hana, allowing the still falling rain on to her face.

"Me too.", said Naruto.

"Actually it's because of you that I do like this place at all.", said Hana.

"I'm sorry for being impatient, Hana-chan, but I think its time you explain all of it.", said Naruto.

Hana took one look at the sky. "Five years ago, my family was a great one. Mother and father were the most famous police team in all of Japan. They would help people everywhere. They were the best parents I could have ever hoped for. I really loved them a lot – they were kind of like you two, Naruto-kun, Hinata-chan.

"But then, one day, when we were out on a picnic, my parents were called for duty, by a commotion that was taking place in a nearby bank. Apparently two robbers were taking hold of the place. Being the nearest policemen, they took charge of the situation. But the fight went awry, and a third criminal, who wasn't with the two robbers had back stabbed my parents, literally. He'd killed them, and escaped with the robbers. The police force was too late.

"A good friend of our family, who was also a policeman, swore to bring down the three criminals. He then started to work feverishly from that day on – I remember well, because I lived with him for the next two months, helping him out, for he was a bachelor. He often forgot to take care of himself, and many a time, I really had to force him to eat and take rest.

"I was wondrous. How could such a guy, who was nothing more than a family friend, work so hard to let two dead people's minds rest in peace? Then I understood something – my parents weren't two dead people – they were his best friends. He said that if they were alive, he'd go to the ends of the earth, even if it sounded really sappy, corny, stupid or idiotic, so why should it change just because they're dead? He then said, 'I can go to the ends of the world for you.'.

"Then, two months later, he'd found and captured them. Now, he was hailed as one of the best in the Japanese police force, whereas once, when he'd joined, he was shunned because, he was once a criminal.

"But then, he said that he'd found a better person to take care of me. Though I objected to it, he convinced me to let that person take care of me. He said the name of the person was, Rei Hikari."

"Rei Hikari was a really cool guy. He decided that there was no point in moping around, and he admitted me in this school, where he was the headmaster. That school was...."

Naruto and Hinata were eagerly listening to Hana's story when Hana herself stopped it.

She then sighed, and said, "Jiraiya-sama, if you're out there, please come out. There's no point in hiding."

Jiraiya, sheepishly grinning, came out and immediately slapped down a paper which all three were familiar with. It bore the kanji character for silence.

"How did you know I was here, brat?", asked Jiraiya.

"You could call it a hunch.", said Hana. "Anyway, in due course of time, I would have had to say this story to you too. Since you already started listening, you may as well listen to all of it."

She then continued her story, as Jiraiya started to listen to it, eagerly.

"That school was called the Nano Mugen Academy. It was kind of strange at the beginning – there were only some hundred or so students. What was even stranger, was that, the first day was not like how it is held in other, normal schools!

"In the first day, we were led to a really big room, where there were lots of plasma TV's, huge bookshelves, and computers. I'll explain about computers, and plasma TV's later, though I think Jiraiya-sama knows about computers, seeing that he was Tsunade-sama's teammate."

Here, Jiraiya nodded, and prompted her to continue her story.

As Naruto hooked his arm around Hinata's waist and Hinata settled herself into Naruto's chest, Hana continued her story. "We were told to do anything that caught our fancy, and at the end of the day, we were supposed to write down what we liked the most, in official paper, which was handed to everyone of us.

"I was aimlessly wandering about in the hall, while the other students were watching TV shows they liked, playing video games, or reading books. Then, as I wandered about the bookshelves, one particular comic book caught my fancy. And I took it out and started reading it. By the end of the day, I was finished with four volumes of that comic book. I hurriedly wrote down the name of the comic book, and submitted it. And before I knew it, I was assigned to my teacher for my whole school life.

"But before I continue further, I have to mention the comic I was so interested in. The name of the comic book was...."

Although Jiraiya, Naruto and Hinata were paying attention, they really thought that the name of the comic book was inconsequential. But, Hana's next word shook them to the core.

"Naruto.", said Hana, simply.

At this, the remaining three froze.

'What the hell, this kid's got his own comic in the other world?', thought Jiraiya.

"I......I've got a comic named after me?", asked a, um, _surprised, _Naruto.

'Naruto-kun's got a comic book named after him. Oh my gosh!', thought Hinata.

"Yes.", said Hana.

"How popular is it?", he asked back.

"So much so that you have millions of fans all over the world!", said Hana.

"I have a comic named after me, Hinata-chan, Gama-sennin, how about that?", asked Naruto.

Hinata said, "Oh, Naruto-kun.", hugging him. Jiraiya just told Hana to continue her story. And on hearing this, Naruto and Hinata continued to pay attention to her.

"Well, then, I was incorporated with chakra coils, with the help of my teacher, and a machine. I don't know the exact details. But, I had chakra coils the next day in my system. My teacher, whose name is Yukiko Yugao, then, started training me in the way of the ninjas. But, I always lacked in the Taijutsu area, so much so that right now, Naruto-kun, you could beat me in a Taijutsu spar. My chakra control and agility were good, so I was kind of OK with Ninjutsu and Genjutsu. Then, Yukiko-sensei trained me a lot, both in the history of the ninja world, and in battle, and with your story, till she deemed me fit. Then, she revealed the true role that the students of the academy had to fulfill.

"The students of Nano Mugen Academy, were allowed to go into an alternate universe, with the help of a portal, to change what happens in their chosen book or show or whatever.", said Hana.

"What? You were trained until you could drop so that you could help out here? But, why would you do that to people who don't really exist in your world?", asked Hinata.

Hana looked up at the black, cloudy sky, and then said, "Hinata-chan, I told you that I was trained to know and understand what happened in your world, with you, Naruto-kun, Jiraiya-sama, Tsunade-sama, Orochimaru-teme, and all, with the help of the comic. I saw how you and Naruto-kun interacted, how Jiraiya-sama interacted with him, and I found that I had come to like all of you so much that I wished I could help you all out, and my wish came true. Now I will be able to save a lot of people from unnecessary deaths, though, I couldn't save Sarutobi-sama, even though I knew what was going to happen to him...".

At this point, Hana started crying, and surprising Naruto and Hinata, Jiraiya stood up, went to Hana, and hugged her. Naruto was shocked that Gama-sennin did so, without attempting to be perverted.

After Hana calmed down, she held Jiraiya's hand, and said, "Thank you, Jiraiya-sama, I think I needed that a lot."

"Believe me, kid, I know what you're going through. It's tough, isn't it? Knowing you could have changed something, yet you really didn't do much to change it?", said Jiraiya, releasing his hand from Hana's grasp.

Hinata saw this, and she buried her head into Naruto's chest, who hugged her even harder.

"Hana-chan, I think you'll feel better getting everything off your chest. Please finish off what you began.", said Naruto.

"Yes, Naruto-kun you're right. You know, all three of you were amazing in your own right. I'll tell you one or two things you'll do in the future. Jiraiya-sama took you on a training trip for three years, and you came back even better than before."

'What? My future self took him on a training trip? Then this kid must have enormous potential.', thought Jiraiya.

"Naruto-kun, I won't even say all the things you did. You did so many things, that I'd be revealing too much if I started on all that you did."

"Really? I'll get that good?", asked Naruto.

"All of Konoha began to have only respect for you since your victory against Neji Hyuga, and it is so even now.", said Hana."But then, if you ask me, Hinata-chan was the best. I don't care if I reveal a thing or two, but I'm gonna make Hinata-chan blush like a tomato, right here, right now!"

"Spare her, Hana-chan", said Naruto, "She's already blushing!", said a grinning Naruto, who was swatted on the shoulder, by a, um, _blushing_, Hinata.

"Well, do you want to know what she did? While you were fighting against Pain, yes, Jiraiya-sama, I'll get back about Pain in a moment", she said, seeing Jiraiya's questioning glance, "she came forward, and, she confessed her love for you while fighting against him!", said Hana, controlling the urge to go all girly on Hinata.

"R-rea-really? Hana-ch-chan?", asked a surprised Hinata.

"And do you know the best parts of it? You didn't even stutter once, and....", trailed off Hana.

"And what, Hana-chan?", asked a really enthusiastic Naruto.

Hana reached out and slapped Naruto in the back of his head. "This baka heard your confession!"

Hinata's eyes widened at the thoughts of her future self doing this. 'Oh no, what are these completely uncouth things my future self seems to have done?'

'But I like it. At least Naruto-kun heard me..', thought Hinata.

But all she did was bury her head as much into Naruto's chest as humanly possible.

"Oh, come on, Hinata-chan, how long are you going to be _this_ shy?", asked Naruto.

"Ano, Naruto-kun, Gomen.", said a blushing Hinata.

"Oh you don't have to apologize to me. If you ask me, change is good. Just look at me. Haven't you been seeing me in a better light since I watered down my, um, _exemplary_, qualities?"

"Ooh, Naruto-kun, exemplary? Have we begun using big words?", asked Hana, teasingly.

At this, all four of them laughed for a bit. Life seemed more hopeful. What with Naruto changing and all.

"OK then, back on track, I'm here to make sure that you guys have better lives from here on. So, that's my job, and I'm here to see that I fulfill it to the fullest of my power. I'm sorry for not picking a better, earlier time to come though, the portal was really limiting my options a lot, and this was the best I could do. If I'd could have done it, I would have been here the day you were born, to tell Minato-sama a better way to dispose of the fox.", said Hana.

"It's alright, Hana-chan", said Hinata, getting nearer to Hana, and hugging her, "You cared enough to actually come out and help us. That's what counts."

Even though she had not stammered much for the past two days, Hinata, from that point on, lost the habit of stammering for the rest of her life.

Of course, as Murphy was really omnipotent the moment he made the law, Naruto had to hug Hana from the other side. Which meant that he was touching Hinata in a roundabout fashion. His reach went so long that his hand was now touching Hinata's chest.

Jiraiya, though, didn't notice this at all, and, seeing the scene before him, he was reminded of a few others....

A team photo of the Shodai and Nidaime Hokage standing behind Hiruzen Sarutobi, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado....

A team photo of him, Tsunade and Orochimaru-teme, with Sarutobi behind them......

Another team photo of himself standing behind Minato Namikaze, and his teammates.......

Yet another team photo of Minato standing behind Kakashi Hatake, Rin, and Obito Uchiha......

A photo of Kakashi Hatake standing behind Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno.....

And, for some reason, he visualized himself and Tsunade standing behind Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuga and Hana Aikouka, all of them being the happiest possible......

At that moment, he decided something – he'd become a teacher again. 'These three will be the best students I've had yet.......', thought Jiraiya.

But before he could finish it, and by the time Naruto's act registered in Hinata's mind, a minute had gone by.

"Na- Narut- Naruto-kun.... touching..... Oh my!", said Hinata, and showing that she was a really bright beacon, fainted on the spot.

'Oh, well, some things don't change I guess.', thought Hana, as she said to Naruto, "You naughty, naughty boy!"

"Eh? Hinata-chan? What happened?", babbled Naruto, as he created Kage Bunshin to help him help her out.

'......right over my dead body.....', Jiraiya continued thinking.

As soon as Hinata was revitalized, a predictable silence fell over them.

And the rain was still falling.

'......I think they're worth all their silliness. They seem to have limitless potential.', finished Jiraiya.

"Actually, Naruto-kun, would you like to know how you got your name?", asked Hana.

'This is my chance to really verify if she's telling the truth.', thought Jiraiya. Even though Jiraiya saw that she was honest, a small part of his mind still didn't trust her.

As Naruto nodded eagerly, Hana started on her story. "You know Naruto-kun, before Jiraiya-sama ventured into adult fiction, he had written one of his best books – The Tale of The Gutsy Ninja, which, sadly, was a failure. But, Minato-sama and Kushina-sama really liked that book, and so, they decided to name you after the name of the main character in that book, Naruto."

'Well, she's the real thing all right. No one except Sarutobi-sensei, Minato and Kushina knew of the book', thought Jiraiya, 'Guess I'll have to trust her.'

"Speaking of you, Jiraiya-sama, I'm actually surprised that you haven's capitalized on this incident for your book.", said a surprised Hana.

"Actually, I'm going to give up on adult fiction.", said Jiraiya.

Immediately, Hana and Naruto scrambled behind the nearby trees.

"You know, I think there's no reason for you two to hide.", said Jiraiya.

"We don't want to be in the same place where lightning is going to strike twice!", said the two of them in sync.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck Jiraiya.

* * *

**In one of the training grounds**

Sasuke Uchiha was practicing a particular Raiton Jutsu, which went out of hand.

Literally.

Suddenly, he smelled an odor in the air he was familiar with.

The odor of a Burning/Charred Fool(TM).

Since he'd gotten this odor a surprising number of times from Naruto, he'd recognized it instantly.

Naruto. How he hated that dobe. Oh, heaven and hell did not have enough words to describe how stupid he was.

Also, though it was really trivial, he stole one thing he thought he would experience with a woman of his choice, his liking.

His first kiss.

The fact that the dobe did it irked him the most. Heck, even if he'd had it with Sakura, he wouldn't have minded. But, Naruto! That was where the line that separated him and the dobe by thousands of feet had been drawn by him.

Getting angry at the dobe, for getting powers that he had no access to, Sasuke let out another lightning bolt.

* * *

**The Hokage Mountain**

A second time charred Jiraiya was stuck in a pose.

Hana's Mizu Parapara no Jutsu had no effect on him.

"What are we going to do?", asked Naruto.

"I think I have a way.", said Hana. "Hinata-chan, please use your Hakke Rokujuyon Sho on him. I think it'll work for sure."

"But I have never succeeded in using it before! I've never performed it to the satisfaction of my father!", cried a worried Hinata.

"Hinata-chan, deep breaths.", said Naruto, and acquiescing to Naruto's advice, she took deep breaths.

Hana stood behind Hinata and used the palms of her hands to gently close Hinata's eyes.

"Picture yourself, Hinata-chan,", said Hana, "in the Chunin Exam preliminaries arena. You have been fighting your cousin for long, and have just found out that Naruto-kun has been rooting for you all along. You know that your only chance of winning is executing the Hakke Rokujuyon Sho, and for the opening you need, you have managed to blind Neji Hyuga temporarily using diversionary tactics."

Hinata pictured what Hana said in her mind, and saw that her method was working.

"Now, you have got the opening you desired. Though, you have become indecisive. 'What if my attack fails?', you think. But, you are reminded of something. Naruto-kun's been cheering and supporting you like mad, so much so that everyone's looking at him like he's mad. Also, seeing that your revival in the fight was because of you accepting Naruto-kun's nindo as your own, you are bolstered by the confidence and sheer will power."

Hinata, in her mind's eye, snapped open to see a blinded Neji Hyuga, and bolstered by Naruto's nindo, she felt the camera center a full round around her once, before it stopped at her open eyes. She then said, "Hakke Rokujuyon Sho!", so confidently that everyone was watching her unwaveringly. And she proceeded to attack.

In the real world, Hinata's assault on Jiraiya wasn't in vain, as Jiraiya stood up, aching all over, moaning. Jiraiya had seen the attack with the help of a shadow clone, and was impressed, both with Hana's motivating speech, and Hinata's perfect execution of the attack.

"Eeeeee! Hinata-chan, you succeeded!", said a squealing Hana-chan, who was now hugging Hinata.

Naruto was dumbstruck, seeing how confidently she'd executed the attack. 'I swear I'll never try doing anything that'll make Hinata-chan angry in the future!', thought Naruto, and he made sure that he recorded the moment mentally. So that he'd never forget it, he made sure he carved out a transcript of the moment, very fast, in a wall in his mind scape.

"Alright, you brats! Listen and listen good. I see that you three have a lot of potential. So, I'm gonna train you, and take you along, for my mission.", said Jiraiya.

"Alright, Gama-sennin, what's this mission involve?", asked Naruto.

Jiraiya got a melancholy look on his face. "We're going to search for my old teammate, Tsunade Senju."

"We're gonna search for a woman who's as old as you? Man, she must be a real old ha...."

Before Naruto could complete his sentence, he found that his mouth was closed by Jiraiya's hand, and the killer intent coming from Hana was overwhelming him a bit.

"Don't say that, brat, before you see her.", said Jiraiya.

"Don't you dare insult the great Tsunade-sama!", said Hana.

"Naruto-kun, remember that you got respect for Jiraiya-sama after what Hana told you? Well, please don't assume that Tsunade-sama will be as you think, you know. The Sannin were given their title, out of the respect Hanzo-sama had for the three of them, and it is not a lightly earned title.", said Hinata calmly.

Naruto slowly moved his head up and down. Then, Jiraiya released his hold, and Hana dropped her killer intent, and Hinata just stood there, looking on cutely.

"OK, Jiraiya-sama, what's our flight plan?", asked Hana.

"If you're referring to when we're leaving, its tomorrow morning. So, get ready, you three. See you, then. Ah, Hana, before I forget, get your knowledge of Pain ready. He sounds very intriguing, and I want to hear about him when we're not training.", said Jiraiya.

Hana bowed, and the three linked hands with each other. The rain had faded a few minutes ago, and from the top of the mountain, they were just in time to see the magnificent sunset. Jiraiya looked at the three, silently standing behind them, and then after a few minutes, he left, thinking about them.

After fifteen minutes, Hana, Hinata and Naruto left for Ichiraku's, where they had a hearty meal, and after walking with Hinata to the Hyuga compound, and bidding goodbye, Naruto and Hana returned to Naruto's house. Naruto didn't mind Hana bunking on his couch, in fact, he offered his bed, but Hana refused, and thus, she made sure that Naruto would be on time the next day.

* * *

**Naruto's house**

**(Cue theme – Alone – Naruto OST)**

Hana Aikouka got up at four thirty. Seeing that she had a lot of work to do, she just took a quick shower, and taking out a change of clothes from the backpack she'd dumped in Naruto's house and forgotten, she went for a shower, brushing teeth, yada yada yada.

After she was done, she saw that it was five thirty. Seeing that this would be the perfect time to wake up Naruto, she went to his bedroom, and shook him awake.

"Naruto-kun, wake up!", said Hana.

Naruto shot up like fireworks.

"Thanks for waking me up, Hana-chan.", said an enthusiastic Naruto, who was looking out of his bedroom window to see the sun rise.

"Eager to learn a new jutsu, aren't you?", asked Hana, looking out of the window herself.

"Yes, it's Tou-sama's jutsu as well. I'll be able to understand a bit of Tou-sama's genius, if not all.", said Naruto.

They both looked at each other, then Hana said, "I think its time we got going.", said Hana.

"Right.", said Naruto, and he flew into action.

After another hour, Naruto himself was done getting ready, including his equipment. Hana had all she needed, with the pouches that she had on either side of her waist, and a small backpack, which she'd packed in her big backpack.

As Naruto and Hana exited the house, locking it, Naruto was thinking hard.

"What's bothering you, Naruto-kun?", asked Hana.

"It's just that we never fixed the meeting place.", said Naruto.

"Eh eh eh eh....Oops?!", Hana said, sheepishly grinning.

"No problem", she continued, "Use your shadow clones – send one to the Gates of Konoha. Meanwhile, we'll hit Ganesha, where Hinata-chan probably is, and have a meal there ourselves too."

Naruto created one clone, and instructed it, that if Hinata or Jiraiya or both were waiting there, to tell them they'd be there by half an hour.

Then, the two of them headed to Ganesha.

* * *

**Ganesha curry restaurant**

Ten minutes later, they were at Ganesha.

"Oh, looks like Hinata-chan isn't here, Hana-chan.", said Naruto.

"Looks like you're right, Naruto-kun. Got any info from your clone?", asked Hana.

Then, as they stood in silence for a minute, Naruto looked up and said, "Both of them are at the Gates."

"Well, then, let's have our meal and get going!", said Hana, entering.

"Hello, you two. What will it be?", asked Yui.

"I'll have a pea curry, and rassi, Yui-san.", said Hana.

"Um, what's the chef special, Yui-san?", asked Naruto.

"Let's see, today's chef special is, Oh, yam ball curry and tea.", said Yui, smiling.

"Fine, I'll have that.", said Naruto.

As Yui turned, Makito himself came to the table. "Not that I'm complaining, but, curry in the morning?", he asked, tying on his apron.

"Makito-san, there are stranger things out there. Like a Jonin around here who loves to eat dango anytime of the day. Given the chance, she'd turn her name from Anko Mitarashi to Mitarashi Dango.", said Hana, dryly.

* * *

**The only exclusive dango shop in town, errr, village**

Anko Mitarashi was digging into her plate of dangos happily, while she sneezed.

"Is something wrong, Anko-san?", asked the owner, Akiko Masaru.

"No, nothing, Akiko-san. But I get the feeling someone's talking about me.", said the Snake Mistress of Konoha.

"Maybe you're right, Anko-san. Want some more dango?", asked Akiko's son, Haru Masaru.

"Yes, Haru-chan!", said Anko, grinning.

"Hey, don't call me that!", exclaimed Haru.

* * *

**At Ganesha**

"And this guy", said Hana, pointing at Naruto, "has had ramen for breakfast so many times that I've lost count."

"Oh, well. I'll be done with your orders in a few.", said Makito, and he left, followed by Yui.

"Hey, stop accusing me! Ramen is the best food in the world...", said Naruto.

"Yeah, that was before you discovered curry ramen...", said Hana.

".......", was Naruto's reply to it.

"Can we actually talk in dots?", asked Hana.

"What?", asked a confused Naruto.

"Never mind.", said Hana.

A few minutes later, they talked with Yui and Makito about their mission, without the specifics, while having their breakfast.

"Really, I would like to know, why the word 'baka' is in my curry.", said Naruto.

One minute, a super deformed Yui was smiling, and the next, her plate hit Makito on the head.

"The other name for the yam ball curry is the 'Baka Yam Curry'. So, sorry, I guess, Naruto-kun.", said Yui.

"It's OK, Yui-san.", said Naruto, smiling.

And ten minutes later, they were done with it.

"See you!", said Makito.

"Good luck on your mission!", said Yui.

Hana and Naruto prepared to leave.

Before that, Hana said to Makito, "You might want to think of a merger with Ichiraku's."

"Yeah, we were thinking about it ourselves, thanks, Hana-chan.", said Makito.

"See you two!", said Hana and Naruto, as they left.

"Hope they're safe.", said Yui.

"Don't worry, they will be. Hana-chan's with them, after all.", said Makito.

"No, I'm more worried about Naruto-kun, he's sort of like you – he can attract the most trouble with just a few words, even though he's been watered down by Hana-chan.", said Yui.

But, as Yui turned around, she saw that Makito was beneath her.

Looking at her underwear.

'Hmmm, pink today.', thought Makito.

That was the last coherent thought that he had, before Yui bopped him on the head with her serving plate, and dragged him in.

* * *

**The Gates of Konoha**

**(Cue theme – Hokage, Naruto OST)**

Hinata was standing near the gates, while Jiraiya was pacing about.

"Um, please calm down, Jiraiya-sama, Naruto-kun and Hana-chan will be here soon.", said Hinata.

"Well, here we are!", said Naruto, as Hana emerged from behind him.

"What took you so long, you brat? Wait, I don't want to know. Fine. Let's get going.", said Jiraiya, leaving.

"Hi, Hinata-chan, how's it going?", asked Naruto.

"I'm fine, Naruto-kun, Hana-chan, let's get going, c'mon!", said Hinata, smiling happily, skipping in the direction Jiraiya went.

"What's gotten her happy?", asked a head-scratching Naruto.

"Oh, nothing, maybe she's just happy to spend time with you?", said Hana.

"Oh, OK!", said Naruto, rushing forward himself.

'Don't worry, Lee-kun, we'll be back with Tsunade-sama.', thought Hana.

Hana joined them, after looking at Konoha for a second.

Unknown to them, though, a shadow followed them in the distance.

* * *

**The road to who-knows-where**

"So, Gama-Sennin, what was Tou-sama like, as a student?", asked Naruto.

"Well, kid, Minato-kun was a natural with seals, the moment I started teaching him. He could really think on his feet, and his original jutsus packed a mean punch. HE, taught ME a few things.", said Jiraiya, "Even though he was kind of a brat like you. At first", looking sideways at Naruto.

"Then, Kaa-sama? How about her?", asked Naruto.

"Well", said Jiraiya, using his hand as a fan, "Kushina-chan was one HELL of a kunoichi."

"Hey, that's what Hana-chan said too.", said Naruto.

"Right, and she's right.", said Jiraiya.

Hana gave an 'I told you so!' look when Naruto turned back to see her. She was talking with Hinata.

"Well, what attracted the two of them? They sound like polar opposites.", said Naruto.

"What attracted you and the Hyuga kid behind us? YOU two are polar opposites. Kushina and Minato had a lot more in common. For example, they first met at Ichiraku's in a ramen face off.", retorted Jiraiya.

"Who won?", asked Naruto, clearly excited.

"Well, the winner was.....", trailed off Jiraiya, clearly angering Naruto.

But, Naruto visibly deflated, remembering that anger would do nothing to help him. At least, with Jiraiya.

Jiraiya saw this, and lost the fun in tormenting the kid. He began to understand that Hana and Hinata were having a positive effect on him.

"Well, neither of them won - it was a tie.", said Jiraiya. For some strange reason, he didn't seem to mind talking about his favorite student and his wife, with Naruto. He wondered why, for the briefest of moments, but was interrupted by Naruto.

"Why? They were both sick of it?", asked a calm and composed Naruto, grinning.

"No", said Jiraiya, grimacing, "They ran out of ramen."

"Oh, that's so cool! Both my parents loved ramen, and so do I!", shouted Naruto.

'Then again, I think I'm making a mistake...', thought Jiraiya.

"Shut up, you brat!", said Jiraiya.

Naruto, then became calm again, and said, "At least, tell me what jutsu we're going to be learning."

"No, not now.", said Jiraiya.

They walked in silence for another two hours.

Then, something big happened.

Something big. Literally.

A big, wrapped sword landed in front of Jiraiya and Naruto. Making them stop in their tracks.

Hana and Hinata, seeing this, rushed forward.

"This wrapped sword, I know it! It's the Samehada! Then, I think we're in for some trouble.", said Hana.

"He he he he, my bad. Sorry for dropping the sword, I'll take it back.", said a blue colored, shark-faced person, who was standing near another.

"Itachi Uchiha......", trailed off Hana.

"What am I, chopped liver?", asked the owner of the sword, who took it back.

"Well, you DO have the ability to chop us all, so I would say 'chopper liver', instead of chopped, Kisame Hoshikage", said Hana.

"What? Do you know us already? Did we introduce ourselves?", asked Kisame, looking at Itachi wildly.

"Kisame. Stop talking, and start fighting.", said Itachi through clenched teeth, starting off by saying, "Goukakyu no Jutsu", after the appropriate seals.

The four split up, and due to the randomness, Kisame ended up going against Jiraiya, Naruto and Hinata, while Hana went up against Itachi.

Hana then did a strange thing. She started to rapidly make hand seals for a small Genjutsu she knew, but she didn't put any chakra into it.

Itachi started to wonder, while he performed Goukakyu no Jutsu once again (which Hana evaded barely), whether this kid was trying to send some sort of message to her. 'Maybe she's trying to tell me to put the others under a Genjutsu, so that they believe we're actually battling it out.', thought Itachi.

Deciding, he put up a Genjutsu just like what he described, and decided to talk to her.

Hana realized that she was under a Genjutsu, and then looked up at Itachi and said, "Man, you're one intelligent guy."

"Thanks.", said Itachi, sarcasm dripping in his word. "But I don't think you passed such a complicated secret message to just tell me that."

"Oh", said Hana, "You can relax around me. After all....", trailing off.

"I know the truth.", said Hana, brightly.

"And you expect me to believe you?", asked Itachi, still sarcastic.

"Yeah, and as for why Sasuke's angry and wants revenge, I'm sure that it's Madara Uchiha's doing.", said Hana.

"Hey, that's pretty good info. Fine, what about it now? Anything else?", asked a sarcastic Itachi.

"What else do you expect me to say? About Ayame Ichiraku?", asked Hana, jokingly.

She was really surprised to see a small blush on Itachi's face.

"Was it the pocky or the ramen?", asked Hana, grinning.

"Shut up!", said Itachi, blushing a bit more.

They both sat down opposite to each other.

"I can't believe", said Hana, throwing a pocky stick at Itachi, "that I'm sitting down with an S-rank missing nin, and having pocky, of all things."

"Then again", said Itachi, sucking on his pocky, sarcasm permanently _burned__**( Get it? Burned? Uchihas? Bwahahahahaha! NO NOT THOSE BABY RATTLES ALL OVER AGAIN! NO NO YOU DON'T.....AAAAAH (runs away shrieking))**_into his tongue, "You do know that I'm innocent right? So, this tea party is justified."

"Where's the tea? More importantly, where's the party?", asked Hana, swinging her head around wildly. Still sucking on pocky.

"Right", said Itachi, sarcastically, "Let's forget about the fact that your teammates and mine are battling it out right over there, and we're sucking on pocky..... Not that I'm complaining, mind you."

"Just tell me if it was the ramen or the pocky", said Hana, "And we'll get back to reality.

"Damn", muttered Itachi, "It was the pocky flavored ramen that she made."

Hana got serious on hearing this. "Sasuke has not changed from the time Madara put him under the impression that you were a cold murderer. His only thought, is revenge, so much so that he's even willing to defect from Konoha, if need be, for power. Naruto-kun's thoughts are entirely bent upon saving him, even though I told him that there was no point in doing so. I told him that Sasuke was hell bent on murdering you, but, he said that he wouldn't be a good Hokage if he couldn't even save one of his friends.", said Hana. "And yes, I know that the reason for you coming upon us was to capture Naruto, the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. If you don't mind, can you hold off on that for say, three years?", asked Hana.

"And why should I even listen to you?", asked Itachi.

"Oh, please, how do you think I know about all of your fates? I know what's happened, what's happening, and what's going to happen. Oh, and, if you say anything about me, I'll make sure the truth is leaked out to a certain other Uchiha I know. There'll be hell in Konoha, not only due to Sasuke, but also due to the civilians, who won't leave the town alone. The name of the Senjus will be besmirched for the generations to come, and Konoha will never be the same again, for once Iwa and Kumo gets wind of this, they'll start attacking, and Konoha will be done for.", said Hana, twirling her pocky stick.

Itachi looked at Hana for a few seconds, and then turning his head, said, "Fine. I'll do just that."

"And, Itachi, don't worry, I'm telling the truth. Do you know something? Ayame-chan's still waiting for you.", said Hana.

"How do you know?", was the question.

"Simple, I just asked Teuchi-san. He said that Ayame ate nothing but vegetables with pocky ramen. Since you left.", said Hana.

"Oh, no, Ayame-chan, I'm sorry. Tell her that, will you?", asked Itachi, surprised at what he was doing himself.

"Fine, and here's one more piece of advice for you. Soon, you will meet someone called Tobi. Watch out for him.", said Hana.

"Now, I shall have to inflict injuries upon you. I hope you don't mind.", said Itachi, throwing away his pocky, and standing up.

"As long as you understood what I told you, I'm fine with it. Everyone else needs to believe that I lost to you, anyway, so do your best, or", she smirked here, "should I say, worst?"

She stood up too, and allowed a Katon Jutsu and several shuriken and kunai to graze her body.

"Let's hope we meet again, somewhere.", said Itachi, breaking his Genjutsu.

When they turned to see their teammates, they received the worst shocks of their lives.

Kisame was bowing down repeatedly to Jiraiya, who was calmly having a cup of tea, with Hinata and Naruto sitting down with closed eyes nearby.

"What the hell are you doing, Kisame Hoshikage?", asked a very angry Itachi Uchiha.

"But, but but but but, Itachi-san, he's the author of the Icha Icha series! He deserves to be bowed down to!", said Kisame, holding a book, like how Naruto would hold a golden bowl of ramen.

Hana went towards Naruto and Hinata, shaking them, causing them to open their eyes.

"I, would like to know", said Hana, in a really cold voice, "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE?", she asked, shouting, gesturing wildly behind her, where Itachi was throttling Kisame by the neck, saying, "We're supposed to be a pair of dangerous S-rank (dangerous) missing (dangerous) nins from a very (dangerous) dangerous organization, dammit, ACT LIKE ONE!"

"Well, Hana-chan, we were fighting Kisame-san with all seriousness, when something slipped out of Jiraiya-sama's bag.", said Hinata.

"When the fish guy saw that it was a book, he dropped his sword and sat under that tree, and began to read it.", said Naruto.

"He then told Jiraiya-sama that he wasn't interested in fighting for now. And we all left the fight, Jiraiya-sama got out a cup of tea and started drinking it.", said Hinata.

At this, Hana said, "Itachi-san? Conference!", and put up a Genjutsu herself, which, Itachi, on hearing, added his own to it, and they started talking.

They took one look at each other, and fell to the ground, Itachi on his hands and knees, and Hana, hugging herself, turning blue, both muttering unintelligibly.

'What the heck?', thought Itachi. 'He makes Akatsuki look like a bunch of senseless foolish perverts who love to read that stupid novel. Where the heck was he when Konan-san was lecturing about the reading of those books?'

Sadly, he'd said that out loud, and Hana had heard him.

"Don't worry, Itachi-san, I'll burn the remaining copies of that stupid book Jiraiya-sama has.", said Hana.

"Arigatou, Hana-chan. But what shall we do about this stupid situation? If Akatsuki gets wind of this, we'll not only be the laughing stock among the missing nin convention ('You guys have a convention?', asked Hana, to which Itachi said, 'Not really.'), Konan-san will make sure Kisame's castrated and quartered. As much as I'd love to see that, I don't want a new partner working with me.", said Itachi.

"I DO have a solution", said Hana, taking out a small tube from her backpack.

"Will it work?", asked Itachi, eyes glowing.

"Cut it out, Itachi-san", said Hana, shrinking back, "You're creeping me out. And yes, it will work. I'll even lend you another tube."

"Gimme gimme gimme gimme!", said Itachi, running to Hana.

Hana stopped him using her hand, and, seeing that he was still running on the spot, trying to grab the tube, she slapped him hard.

"What the hell happened to me?", asked Itachi.

"Oops", said Hana, sheepishly grinning, "I guess the Genjutsu I used was the one that even turns the most dangerous person into an idiot.", said Hana. "But don't worry, this little tube will erase the last few minutes from everyone's memories. Yes, I mean the whole universe. But it won't affect anyone who is really powerful. Like the Sannin, but here, since one of our targets is a Sannin, it will work, but it will give him permanent immunity from this tube ever again."

"What's the catch?", asked Itachi, knowing this was too good to be true.

"Well, it works only if a really stupid, and I mean REALLY STUPID thing happened. So it won't work against any big secret. The point of this tube is to remove any embarrassing moments from your as well as your intended targets' memories. OK, let's see if this works. Do you know Maito Gai?", asked Hana, hoping that in the slightest freak chance someone used it on Itachi.

"Maito Gai? Who's that?", asked Itachi.

'So, someone's already leaked this to this world. Must be Rei-san. Oh well. He must have seen that poor Itachi was scarred for life by seeing that....that......ugh......... and taken pity on him and used it.', thought Hana.

"Never mind, let's use it! We should hold the tube, chant the names of our targets, and pull it simultaneously. Of course, you'll forget how to use this, and I'll forget our conversation, but I'll remember that I talked to you about something and guess it all out anyway. There are instructions on the back.", said Hana.

The two did what Hana told, and the last few minutes went out of every lesser powerful being's existences.

* * *

**In a remote town, in a gambling hall**

Tsunade Senju was currently sweating a bit. She had lost the last few games she played, so horribly, that they refused to play with her. She had only one last hope, and that was the dice game – guessing whether the outcome would be odd or even.

After the dice had been tossed, apparently, the player had a memory lapse, and had forgotten what bet Tsunade had made. Seizing her chance, Tsunade saw the dice, and told that she'd bet even, and the player, having heard of Tsunade's monstrous strength, acquiesced, and lost.

Tsunade's eyes shone like stars, as she had just won at a gambling game, for the first time ever in fifty years of her existence.

She was really hyperactive, and was hugging Shizune, who was the envy of many men, at that moment.

The money she won was four hundred times the money she'd bet.

But, sadly, somehow, all the creditors who'd been out to catch her, had caught up with her, and all her money was lost.

On the bright side though, thought both Tsunade and Shizune, their debts were paid. Thank Kami-sama.

* * *

**The path to who-knows-where**

As the opposing forces stood, um, _opposing_, each other, a blue blur shot out of the bushes.

It was directed at Itachi Uchiha.

All Itachi did was catch the hand holding the Chidori, and twist it.

Sasuke Uchiha yelled out in pain, as the others just watched, even Hana.

Then, Itachi pinned him to a tree, and said, "Hello, brother mine, have you contemplated yet upon why you have not yet laid a scratch on me? Well, let me show you." With this, his eyes started to spin out of control, and stopped, forming three bladed shurikens. Then, he said, "Tsukuyomi."

As the world blacked out for Sasuke Uchiha, he woke up to a world where everything was like a photo negative, the only colors being black, white and red, for the moon.

"You know my world, Sasuke, a world where I'm going to inflict pain upon you for 72 hours. Meanwhile, I shall answer my question so that you can contemplate the next seventy two hours here. You do not have enough hate. You should hate more. You have no anger, and consequently, you lack the ability to extract your revenge.", he said, as multiple images of the two formed in his phantom world. All the images stabbed Sasuke once, and said, "71 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds left."

But, only a second passed in the real world, before Sasuke Uchiha collapsed in a heap. As Itachi tossed him aside, all of them heard Jiraiya shout, "Kuchiyose:Gamaguchi Shibari!"

They were surrounded by a strange sort of wall, which started to dissolve the ground under which Itachi and Kisame were standing. Itachi immediately said "Amaterasu.", and burned a hole through the wall, and escaped, Kisame following him after picking up his sword.

Then, Jiraiya took out a scroll, and sealed the Amaterasu that was still burning, into it.

"What the heck was that technique?", asked Naruto.

"Kuchiyose:Gamaguchi Shibari. It summons the esophagus of a great fire breathing toad from Mount Myoboku, and I can pretty much control it however I want. It dissolves the enemy with its intestinal juices too. But, no one's ever escaped from it. This guy did. That's why I've sealed the Amaterasu – to study it and improvise the technique later.", said Jiraiya.

"Gross", remarked Naruto, "but useful."

"Jiraiya-sama, what should we do?", asked Hinata.

"I guess we should get back to Konoha, considering how far we are from both there and the next village. Drop Sasuke there at the hospital.", said Naruto, scratching his head.

"No, I will send a toad with Sasuke and a letter, and ask for a reply, to Hana Inuzuka. I know her, and she's pretty trustworthy.", said Jiraiya.

Then, he immediately took a few minutes to write a letter, and after finishing it, summoned a big toad, strapped Sasuke to him securely, and put the letter next to him, and sent the toad on his way.

After ten minutes, the toad came back with a reply from Hana Inuzuka, which said that she had taken control of the situation and wishing the best of luck on Jiraiya's mission for finding Tsunade, for she couldn't do much but keep Sasuke under a coma till she came back.

"Fine, let's get on with our mission.", said Jiraiya, and they started walking, Jiraiya being tagged by Hana, and Hinata and Naruto taking the back, holding hands.

* * *

**Tanzaku Town**

It was evening when they arrived at Tanzaku Town.

"Right.", said Jiraiya.

"Why are we here?", asked Naruto.

"To search for Tsunade-sama.", said Hana.

"I know that. But why here, specifically?", asked Naruto.

"Well, Naruto, actually there is a festival held here around this time of the year. Plus, Tanzaku Town's known for its Slot Corner, so there is a big chance of Tsunade being here.", said Jiraiya.

"Really, forgive me, Gama-Sennin, but why would Tsunade-sama be here?", asked Naruto, again.

"Didn't I tell you? Oh well, Hana-chan will, now.", said Jiraiya, walking away.

As the remaining three hurried behind Jiraiya, Naruto looked at Hana, who began explaining.

"Naruto-kun, Hinata-chan, although we know that Tsunade-sama is a great kunoichi, great medic nin and all, there is one spot where even I have to acknowledge that she's worse than a Genin.", said Hana, sighing.

"And what is that, Hana-chan?", asked Hinata.

"She has a nickname – 'The Legendary Sucker'. You see, she has the worst luck possible. To my knowledge, in her forty or so years of meaningful existence, she has never won a single bet or game that involves luck of any sort. And something even worse is that she's addicted to gambling.", said Hana, sighing again.

"Oyaoya!", exclaimed Hinata, "This doesn't bode well for Tsunade-sama.", said Hinata, a bit downcast.

"Cheer up, Hinata-chan, I'll try and cure her of her bad luck.", said Naruto, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"How, Naruto-kun? How can you?", asked Hinata.

Hana said, instead of Naruto, "Just wait and watch, Hinata-chan.", leading them to a stall where a dice game was being held.

Hinata then understood what Hana meant. Naruto tried the game, and an hour later, the manager of the stall was begging him to leave before he was declared bankrupt. Of course, Naruto, understanding the man, sympathizing with him, refused to take the prize money. The three then left the stall, after the man handed them three meal tickets which could be used once anywhere in the festival.

Then, they happened upon three poor kids who were refused a meal at one of the stalls While no one was looking, Naruto slipped away from Hana and Hinata, who were busy looking at another stall, and handed the three the tickets. He knew what it was like to be hungry, before he knew of the haven that was Ichiraku's, and he'd be damned if he did not help alleviate at least a little hunger, even if he couldn't satisfy anyone. The two boys and the girl thanked him, and asked for his name, which he'd replied to, and they left him, saying they'd never forget him.

He turned back to see that Hana was pointedly looking away and Hinata was looking at him with shining eyes. But before neither could say anything, Hana dragged them to the entrance of the town, where there was a clearing.

"That was so kind of you, Naruto-kun.", said Hinata, holding his hand with both of hers, in her delicate, soft voice.

Naruto stared into Hinata's eyes, and said, "I've been there Hinata-chan. Been there, and experienced it. I'm happy that I could at least mmph-"

Before he could complete it, Hinata was attacking Naruto with her lips.

Hana, this time though, just watched the moon. 'I guess it's true that one sees the faces of their loved ones on the full moon. Dad, mom, and of course, my boyfriend....'

Then, she saw that Naruto and Hinata broke apart for air, and went at it once again.

Hana's eyes filled with tears, but angrily rubbing them away, she took out her guitar from her backpack, and started playing a really sad melody.

After some time, she left, claiming loudly that she was going to find Jiraiya-sama.

"She's really sad, Hinata-chan.", said Naruto.

"Maybe she already has a boyfriend, Naruto-kun, and maybe it hurts her that she can't do the same with him.", said Hinata, worry shining through her eyes.

Naruto sighed. "Hinata-chan, I feel like a heel."

"I understand what you mean, Naruto-kun. Poor Hana-chan. This must be torturing her."

With that, Hinata glomped on to Naruto even more fiercely, who responded similarly, by burrowing her into his embrace.

"We'll find a way, Hinata-chan. We'll find a way to cheer her up when she's down."

Then, they looked at the moon and Hinata cried tears for Hana, which Naruto silently wiped, giving her reassurance.

"Come on, Hinata-chan, let's go."

Hearing Naruto's whispering voice, Hinata nodded affirmatively, and a black and cream colored blur left the area.

* * *

**Back in Tanzaku Town**

Jiraiya had managed to bump into Hana, and by the time they dusted off and all, Naruto and Hinata had arrived.

"OK, you three, I have to say that Tsunade's nowhere here. So, we'll have to leave for another city. But, we won't be leaving today, since we've been traveling all day. We're going to rest here for tonight, and I'll tell you about the jutsu I'm going to teach. And we'll leave tomorrow morning. And...", said Jiraiya, suddenly sticking out his hand, catching a man who was trying to run.

Grabbing him by the collar, he said, "Return the money you've stolen. Or else...."

"Or else what? I'm a ninja, and I know all sorts of Ninjutsu that can blow you away...", said the thief.

"Is that so? Naruto, Hinata, Hana, look closely, this is the technique that I'm going to teach you three."

Suddenly, a ball appeared in in Jiraiya's hand, within which, Naruto and Hinata noted, chakra was spinning away madly, and there seemed to be a slight wind effect, due to which the sleeves of Jiraiya's dress were flapping about.

He shouted, "Rasengan!", and he slammed the attack onto the thief.

The thief began to spin rapidly, like a clock, and as he was spinning, he was blown away, and he hit the nearby stall, crashing it and then he fell down.

Jiraiya then recovered the money, and disposed of the thief, and paid the damages to the stall owner. He then bought a bucket full of water balloons, and said, "OK, change of plans, we're not leaving until you three cover the first step in learning Rasengan."

Although Hana already knew Rasengan, she held back from mentioning this to Jiraiya, for she only knew the way which Naruto had used, and she wanted to try the other way.

Then they turned to see that Hinata was repeatedly connecting and disconnecting her pointer fingers, and Naruto was holding a signboard that pointed to him, saying, 'Dummy here. Please explain, slowly'.

"Fine, I'll explain tomorrow. But for now, let's get to sleep. I took the liberty of renting two rooms at a nearby inn. We can share.", said Jiraiya, dragging Naruto, and Hinata took Hana's hand and followed them.

Before they went into their respective rooms, Naruto and Hinata kissed each other, hugged and left.

Hinata saw that Hana was silently staring at the moon, standing at the balcony.

"Hana-chan.", said Hinata.

"I think you've guessed the situation. I confessed to my boyfriend just before I left, and we had only one kiss. It hurts, but I'm not jealous of you guys. Now", said Hana, beginning to cry, "Now I ca-can't m-m-meet him f-f-for y-years t-to come, an-and, it hurts!", she said, viciously jabbing her chest with her pointer finger repeatedly.

Hinata kept her hand on Hana's chest, blocking her finger from jabbing it, and said, "I may not be your boyfriend, but, I am at least your friend, and I can do this."

Hinata then glomped onto Hana, and as if she were trying to put all her feelings into it, glomped her tighter.

Hana felt as if she had wanted that, and cried on Hinata's shoulder.

And, as Hana wept all of her tears, she saw truly how beautiful Hinata Hyuga was.

She saw that Hinata's eyes were full of tears, and on seeing those tear filled eyes, Hana was strangely attracted to them. She then moved her face back, and saw Hinata's lips.

She was moaning in her thoughts.

Hinata saw how Hana was looking at her, and she was stuck to the spot as Hana moved her face to her lips.

But, Hinata was saved when someone knocked.

Hinata then flew into a futon, at the verge of fainting, and promptly fainted on the futon.

Hana opened the door to see Naruto.

"Ah, Hana-chan, Gama-Sennin wants us to be up by six. He told me there was a bit of theory that he was going to have to explain about the Rasengan, and he wants us up by six. Good night.", said Naruto, turning back.

"Good night to you too, Naruto-kun.", said Hana.

Naruto acknowledged with a wave of his hand, and went into his room.

Hoping that Hinata-chan wouldn't be angry or disappointed with her the next day, Hana went to sleep herself.

* * *


	4. Take a deep breath, and must ang!

"_**Finish it in eight words or less", came the voice, and the image of a gun came before Smokin'Oken.**_

_**Then, he said, "I don't own Naruto or any related characters."**_

"_**Exactly eight words, pardner, good.", said the voice as the image disappeared.**_

_**But then, Smokin'Oken said, "OC's are mine!", and began to run as the gun chased him.**_

_**Naruto(scratching his head) – What's he doing?And, yeah, he doesn't own Addicted To Curry, or Bleach, or the songs of Asian Kung Fu Generation, or the Naruto OST........ Heck, all he owns is a wallet, a train season pass, and a stupid Motorola W230. And some stationery.**_

* * *

**Tanzaku Town**

Jiraiya of the Sannin used to proclaim himself as a 'Super Pervert'.

All of his perverseness fled him when he saw Sarutobi die in front of him.

Now, he had only a few goals left.

The first was to train Naruto, and his two friends, and fulfill his role as Naruto's Godfather.

Next, was to see if he still had a chance with Tsunade.

And finally, to die a heroic death.

Hopefully, nothing would stop him from his last goal.

'Now that I think about it, I wish I had been a bit more serious during my childhood. At least, I would have had a better chance with Tsunade. Oh well, nothing be done for it now.', thought Jiraiya, as he woke up and headed for a bath, taking a change of clothes.

Naruto was dreaming about a future where he and Hinata had a pair of twins, and they were all excellent ninjas, and Jiraiya and Tsunade were still with them, like a family.

As Naruto woke up, he wondered why Hana wasn't in his dream.

* * *

**At the outskirts of Tanzaku Town**

Hana arrived just behind Naruto, as both of them were late.

Hinata had woken up super early, and had left already, and Naruto's extended dream caused him to wake up just as late as Hana.

Jiraiya was thinking hard himself, and when he saw that all of them were there, he took out a scroll and summoned the bucket of water balloons.

"Alright, listen and listen good. You need to do three steps, in order to learn Rasengan. First, you have to burst this water balloon with your chakra.", said Jiraiya.

Saying this, he took out a water balloon, and held it in his hand. A few seconds later, bumps began to appear on it, and as more and more bumps appeared, suddenly, it burst, though, since he'd held it at a distance away from his body, he somehow managed to avoid himself from getting drenched.

Naruto, Hinata and Hana took one look at each other, as if to say, 'Let's do this', and each took a water balloon.

Hana imagined her chakra to be flowing like fast strands of air, and it did so, so that when they went into the water, the water started rotating, and bumps appeared over the balloon.

Hinata had a similar idea, and soon, her balloon also had bumps all over it, but there weren't enough, in both Hana's and Hinata's cases, to burst it.

Naruto though, was suffering. He tried and tried to use his chakra to rotate the water inside, but, when he did, he felt like he was spending too much chakra just to rotate the water.

Jiraiya saw that Naruto was gasping for breath. "Slow down, Naruto, what's wrong?"

"I don't know, Gama-Sennin, I feel like I'm wasting too much chakra to just get this water to rotate."

"Bend your head down."

When Naruto did so, Jiraiya quickly examined the top of his head, and said, "Look up now."

"What was the point?"

"Hush, now answer me. How do you spin your chakra?"

"Huh? Well, I spin it in the anticlockwise direction, why?"

"There. Now, try to use clockwise rotation."

Naruto did so, and he found that he could easily rotate the water inside, without too much chakra.

'Right, this shows that it is easier for me to rotate my chakra in the clockwise direction. Hmmm.... Better make note of this. Could be useful in the future.', thought Naruto.

Now all Naruto had to do was cause bumps to appear on the balloon, explode it, and he would be done with the first step.

But, seeing the amount of progress Hana and Hinata had made, Naruto had a subconscious feeling that the day was going to be a long one........

* * *

**Tick, tock, tick, tock, DING!**

* * *

Keeping on trying was the only option Naruto had. Though they had taken a break in the afternoon for a small meal, Naruto was really saddened that he couldn't make much progress, while Hana and Hinata were very close to bursting their water balloons.

Frustrated, he moved his hand so that it could hit his forehead.

Sadly, he forgot that he was still holding the water balloon.

I don't think we need a Shinichi Kudo to help find out what happened next.

Naruto was drenched in water.

Hinata and Hana, though, were concentrating on their balloons, and were almost done with it.

Naruto took out a new water balloon, and collapsed.

He saw that a cat was pouncing on the balloon, and after one hard pounce, the balloon burst, drenching Naruto-kun.

Getting drenched woke up an idea in Naruto's head. This startled the cat, and it fled.

Naruto then thought of pouncing on the balloon with his hand, and when he implemented it, he was drenched again. But to him, it was the most refreshing and cool water. It was the water, the rain of success that he was drenched in.

* * *

Naruto took out another water balloon, and managed to burst it using the same trick.

Overjoyed, Naruto called out to Jiraiya, Hana and Hinata.

When the three of them gathered, Naruto showed that he'd managed to master the first step.

Seeing Naruto filled Hana and Hinata with confidence, and soon, their balloons burst too.

Jiraiya then told them to burst the rest of the balloons as well, and saw that they were having fun drenching each other with water.

'I was right.', thought Jiraiya, 'These three have lots of potential. They'll become as good as the Sannin in no time.'

As he was drenched in water, with a flat expression on his face, he wiped the water from his eyes, and thought, '...........At least they get along with each other. But I do have a quiet, distinctive feeling that these three will be the death of me yet.........'

* * *

After they were done with bursting all of the water balloons, Jiraiya said, "Right, the hill gets more steeper from here on. As we set out tomorrow, I will tell you the second step, and now, we're going to sleep after dinner."

This time though, Naruto just kissed Hinata, told her that he'd meet up later, for he wanted to ask Gama-Sennin some questions, and he left.

As Hinata started to leave, Hana said, "Hinata-chan, wait."

"Hana-chan, I... I don't know what to say.", said Hinata-chan.

"I-I'll tell something. I'm s-sor-sorry, Hinata-chan!", she said, and started crying again. "I won't try to do anything of that sort again."

Hinata, being the kind soul she was, hugged Hana-chan.

"I won't cry like this anymore. I swear, I won't.", said Hana, drying up her tears.

Hinata released Hana, then hugged her again.

"To me, it doesn't matter, Hana-chan. I will be here for you until your boyfriend is back. I may not be a boy, but, I will be here, for you.", said Hinata.

Hana and Hinata hugged silently under the moonlight, and they left holding hands.

* * *

**The next day**

"Are you three ready?, asked Jiraiya, as he strapped on his bag.

Seeing them nod, Jiraiya made a gesture, and they moved out.

When they reached the other entrance to Tanzaku Town, and had walked for a while till it was out of sight, Jiraiya stopped them.

"Before I forget, I'll tell you about the second step." He then took out a scroll, and summoned four rubber balls from it. He handed out one to each of them, and took one for himself, and put the scroll back in.

"This step emphasizes on power. Basically, you have to explode this rubber ball. Thing is, it's a hundred times harder to break than the water balloon. So, you have to put power into breaking it – mere spinning of chakra won't cut it. Well, then, we're gonna start."

He then proceeded to explode the rubber ball, and told them to start working on it.

As the three started trying, Naruto realized that he'd have to do something he'd found difficult – concentrate, for he knew from learning Teikietsu Shouheki, that he'd have to concentrate.

But his father created the jutsu – so it'd either be useful, or powerful, or both. And, he deemed that anything his father made, would be really useful.

He would learn this jutsu if it was the last thing he did. After all, anything to protect the three people who actually cared about him was allowed, wasn't it?

He swore that no one he cared for would die in front of him.

Never.

Ever.

* * *

**At a roadside inn**

Thankfully, by midday, they were able to reach a roadside inn, where they decided to rest for the afternoon.

Sadly, none of them were able to explode the ball.

Jiraiya reassured them by saying, "Don't worry, you three. You are making remarkable progress, considering the fact that it took Minato three years to invent and perfect it to that level."

"But", said Naruto, "He was creating it from scratch. Not like us."

"Even then. It took me three months to fully get hang of this jutsu. You seem like you'll do it in two weeks flat."

The three fell silent. Then Naruto said, "If you don't mind, I'm going to sleep for some time."

Saying that, he closed his eyes, laid down his head on the table, and went to sleep.

* * *

**Mind Scape**

**(Cue theme – Asian Kung Fu Generation – Haruka Kanata)**

Naruto opened his eyes to find that he was standing in a place where the walls were cracked, and water was running through his legs. Like a sewer.

"Wait, I know this place. This place is.... my mind......"

Naruto followed the running water, and kept running.

He kept running till he heard a growling voice.

_**Naruto Uzumaki!**_, shouted the voice.

"Kyuubi no Youko....", trailed off Naruto, stopping in front of the huge cage.

_**Why are you here?!**_

"Well, we need to talk."

_**What could a puny human like you have to talk, to the greatest and the mightiest Kyuubi no Youko?**_

"I just thought I'd extend a hand of friendship to you."

The fox took a look at him, and, slowly, gave a rumbling laugh, which quickly turned into loud laughter. After the laughter died down, the fox snarled.

_**You? Offering me a hand of friendship? Do not pity me, puny human, for once I'm out of this cage, I shall crush you, like the mosquito that you are...**_

"Oh, we know that's not happening, right?"

The fox stared at him with a scowl on his face.

"I mean, we all know of the Yondaime Hokage's talent in sealing, right? You haven't been able to escape despite your repeated attempts, and if that doesn't say something about my father's adeptness at Fuinjutsu, nothing else does. Plus, even if my father's seal failed, the last move I would ever make would be to make sure I go down with you, before you can get out. After all, I wouldn't want anyone else to die under your hand and my rule. I would be the only Hokage that never took the post but saved the people.", said Naruto, folding his hands, leaning on a wall.

The fox snarled again.

_**What is this force that motivates you to do thus? Why do you want to suppress me and my power, when you know that you could destroy this whole wide world with it? WHY DO YOU NOT GIVE IN TO THE POWER I POSSESS?**_

"It is because there are a few things worth fighting for, and there are a few things worth losing for too – things that make your power absolutely unnecessary, things that I can do on my own. With my own power.", was the reply.

_**Is this power so great that I am unnecessary? Then release me now, and I shall be on my way, far far away from you.**_

"Well, I think I will...............Not."

_**WHY?**_

"Well, why was I chosen, when father could have picked an unlucky orphan from the street, sealed you into him, and ensure that he would be killed, so that you would exist no longer? I think, there must have been some other reason, other than the fact that as a Hokage, he couldn't sacrifice any of his people. He knew that I could rein you in, that I could withstand your brutality. Perhaps, you were hoodwinked into attacking Konoha or something.....", trailed off Naruto with a small chuckle.

The fox was slightly surprised. Of course, after an existence of a thousand years, literally nothing tended to surprise the nine tailed fox at all. But, there were only three men who had see her eye to eye – Hashirama Senju, Madara Uchiha and Minato Namikaze. Here was a kid, not even a shadow of those three men who had legendary powers, yet he spoke like a prophet, like a man who guessed everything by just thinking hard.

Her respect for her jailer grew by one thousandth of her power. And that was saying something.

But he decided not to reveal right now, how nearly he'd not missed the bullseye with his shuriken.

_**What is this offer of friendship that you talk of?**_

"Well, you see, I kind of imagine that you are a demon.... no, beast..... no, powerful being, right out from the story books and fairy tales. A great big being that roamed all over the land, living for thousands of years, practically immortal. A being that is immensely powerful, that could crush mountains with just a tiny fraction of its power."

_**Get. To. The. Point.**_

Kyuubi was getting impatient. She already knew of the tales about her.

"Well", said Naruto, sheepishly scratching the back of his head, grinning, "I thought that after living for a thousand years, you would finally like to have a friend?"

She looked at him.

A few minutes later, Naruto gave up. Shifting in his place, he sighed, and let out a breath. "I'm tired."

Kyuubi stared at him again. She growled.

_**You haven't lived for a thousand years, brat. How can you get tired?**_

"No, you misunderstood me", said Naruto, looking at Kyuubi eye to eye, "I'm tired of being told that you are a great monster that only seeks to destroy. Maybe you've been misunderstood. I think, that there is more to you than what meets the eye. I want to extend hand of friendship. That is all. To see if you could really be a good friend. No catch."

_**Why would you want to befriend a being that is regarded as nothing more than a savage beast? A being that took away your parents, killed countless of people?**_

As the two remained silent for a few moments, Naruto said, "Well, since it seems to you that your image is too bloodthirsty to be my friend, I guess I'll leave."

Naruto turned and walked away.

_**Naruto Uzumaki, wait!**_

Naruto spun (lookee, I made another pun....or did I?) to see the Kyuubi shrinking.

A girl of about fifteen years, stood behind the cage.

She wore a red battle kimono, had deep red hair, a normal looking face and a smile on it.

"I accept."

Silence.

"Wait. All I had to do was talk to you? That was it?", asked Naruto, surprised.

"Yes, Naruto. All you had to do was talk to me, try and convince me. I had actually anticipated it earlier, but, no harm done."

"I dunno, this seems too easy. Too easy to be true."

"Do not worry. As much as I hate to admit, I am an ancient woman, in your terms. I've lived so many years. A luxury that you can't afford. I have had years to get used to you, and your peculiar mannerisms. Though, from here on, I shall help you as much as possible. In return...."

"What?"

Kyuubi leaned onto her cage's bars. She slowly slid down it, as did a tear, from her left eye.

"Friends?"

She looked down when she asked that, to hide her tear.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder, which was squeezed gently.

She looked up to see a smiling Naruto with his hand through two bars.

"Friends."

As both of them stood up, Naruto tried to yank his hand away.

He couldn't.

"Argh!", said Naruto as he tried again and again.

Kyuubi then took hold of his hand and turned it slowly.

As Naruto yanked, he'd apparently given too much force in doing so. Thus, he flew back, not stopping.

"See you later.", were the last words he heard, as he flew into daylight.

* * *

**The roadside inn**

"Naruto-kun!", said Hinata, gently slapping him on his cheek.

Naruto woke up to Hinata's delicate, pearly voice.

He then flew into action. "What? Where? When? Why? Who? How?"

"What happened? YOU explain, not the other way around.", said Hana.

"Did you talk with the nine tailed fox?", asked Jiraiya quietly.

"Well, yes, Gama-sennin, I did talk to the nine tailed fox. Or should I say, the woman that Kyuubi is."

_You got that right, kid, or should I say, kit?_

_'Kit's fine.'_, said Naruto to Kyuubi.

"What? The Kyuubi is female?", asked Jiraiya, maintaining his quiet tone in spite of his surprise.

"Hai. She is. Most certainly.", was Naruto's reply.

"If I were my old self, I'd be on her case in no time." Jiraiya sighed and said, "What did she want?"

"Nothing. I've made my peace with her. So has she. We're friends, now."

Jiraiya did not react to it, but just listened to him quietly.

"Fine. Let's get going. We're not going to progress any further with your training until you explode those balls."

Jiraiya paid their bill, and they were on their way.

* * *

**A major town**

It took them a week to reach the next major town.

To their disappointment, they couldn't find Tsunade there either.

They got two rooms at an inn, and during dinner, Jiraiya laid out his plan.

"This is our plan. In one month there will be a grand gambling festival in Kakegoto Town. Tsunade will most probably disguise herself in order to gamble there without being noticed. Thing is, it'll take one month for us to reach Kakegoto Town. So, since you three have completed the second step, we're going to work on completing Rasengan within that time. I'll tell you what you have to do later. But for now, I'm going to tell you two ways to recognize Tsunade on the spot. One way, the easier one, is to just challenge her to a gambling game, and see if she loses terribly. When I say terribly, I mean it. She's obviously called The Legendary Sucker for a reason."

"What's the other?", asked Hana.

"You three are the only ones who know that I've given up on writing porn. So, I'm going to read an Icha Icha book in front of her, with her name on its cover-"

He saw that all three had shining eyes.

"Do I even want to know?", asked Jiraiya with a flat expression.

"Well", said Naruto, "I once saw that crazy snake lady beat up Kakashi-sensei because of that book he was reading. Ooh, it took us a long time to identify him after his operation. He was defeated, _soundly._"

"You're so brave, Jiraiya-sama, to attempt to try and read that book in front of Tsunade-sama, who's strength is like that of a thousand bulls. We'll get your coffin ready.", said Hana.

"Argh! I shouldn't have. OK, getting back to seriousness....", trailed off Jiraiya, seeing that they were paying attention once again.

"Well, you should use either of the two plans if you suspect a person to be Tsunade. Well, now that that's out of the way, how about we get to sleep now, and wake up early tomorrow?", said Jiraiya, getting up.

As the three nodded, Naruto just wordlessly followed Jiraiya, and Hana followed Hinata.

* * *

**A month goes by in traveling and training.....**

* * *

Jiraiya was leaning against a tree with his eyes closed.

The last few weeks had been therapeutic for him. It was like as if all those punches and kicks from Tsunade and many other kunoichis were being rewarded, soothed, by the three students Jiraiya was training.

Thinking back, he found that he didn't regret getting rid of his books and that sort of writing. Though those books were real bestsellers, he didn't want that sort of recognition now. He'd moved past all that. One month with Hana, Hinata and Naruto was enough to change him for the better.

He felt de javu. Training a team all over again, he felt like his old, Jonin self. These three kids were as promising as his old Genin team, if not more. They'd managed to almost finish learning Rasengan, and were in the process of cracking the last step.

He'd come to enjoy the time he spent with his three students, and knew that only one person was left to fill the family. Tsunade Senju.

He hoped with all his heart that he still had a chance with her. He really was an idiot, acting like one in his younger years, when he could have focused more on learning and less on perverted things.

When he opened his eyes, he saw that the sun had already set.

When he got up to see his students, he saw that Naruto was grinning maniacally, and Hana and Hinata had brilliant smiles on their faces, and that all three of them were panting hard.

"Gama-Sennin, chalk up a new one for us.", said Naruto.

"And why should I?", he asked, even though he clearly guessed what happened.

Three shouts of Rasengan were heard, and three trees were completely demolished.

"We're done with Rasengan.", said Naruto, as he collapsed, smiling, into sleep.

Hinata and Hana were also dead tired, so, Jiraiya created shadow clones to carry the two to their room, and he carried Naruto himself to their room.

They had managed to reach Kakegoto Town a day before the festival, and snag two rooms at a really nice inn which had hot springs as well.

Now all they had to do was keep an eye open for Tsunade, and they would be done with one half of their mission.

As Jiraiya laid the boy down on his futon, he laid down on his own, and went to sleep as well, after he confirmed that Hana and Hinata were in their beds, soundly sleeping.

* * *

**The next day, at the inn**

**(Cue theme for the whole section – Need To Be Strong – Naruto OST)**

Naruto woke up in a sudden movement.

As he yawned, scratching his head, he came back to full alert as he recognized his surroundings. He knew that he'd been working hard yesterday. So, how did he get back here?

He got up, to see that Jiraiya was sleeping soundly, and put two and two together.

'OK, so Gama-Sennin brought me back. So, I must have collapsed or fainted or something. Oh well, I could care less. I completed Rasengan! And that is enough cause to celebrate!', thought Naruto, smiling to himself.

Naruto moved to take a bath at the hot springs. He knew that he was still tired from yesterday, and a soak would do him a lot of good, and refresh him.

Naruto took his towel and a fresh set of his clothes, and set off.

Half an hour later, he was done taking a soak, and he came out, after donning his clothes.

Hinata was walking to the breakfast table to wait for the others. She had a dream about Naruto and herself, doing things that made her go, 'Kyaaaah! Must not think perverted about Naruto-kun.'

Of course, Naruto had seen her on the way.

"Something wrong, Hinata-chan?"

"No, nothing, N-Naruto-kun.", stuttered Hinata slightly.

"Hey, Hinata-chan, congrats on completing Rasengan!", exclaimed Naruto.

Hinata blushed at his praise.

Naruto thought, 'So cute.'

"Hug?", asked Hinata.

"With pleasure!", was Naruto's reply.

Naruto and Hinata hugged for a moment, and Kyuubi said, _I think I'm glad that I was sealed into you after all._

'And here I thought you were a bloodthirsty beast hell bent upon destroying the whole world.'

_Hey, I'm a girl too. I love the fact that you and that girl, Hinata, are finally together. You two are really cute together._

As Naruto chuckled, Hinata picked up on it. "Something wrong, Naruto-kun?"

"Nothing, Kyuubi sends her compliments for us.", he said, impishly kissing Hinata on her nose.

"Tell Kyuubi-chan I said hi!", said Hinata with a happy smile.

_Tell her I said hello too. And that she's real cute!_

"Yup, Kyuubi-chan says hello and that you're real cute."

"Come on, Naruto-kun, let's go to breakfast."

"But, Hinata-chan, what about Hana-chan and Gama-Sennin?"

"I think you didn't see them, but they left already."

Hinata and Naruto held hands as they walked to the dining hall.

To their relief, Jiraiya and Hana were indeed there.

By the time they reached there, they saw that Jiraiya had pasted a silence seal on the table, and they heard a snippet of conversation, with Hana saying, "-managed to kill you."

"What? Who killed Gama-Sennin?", shouted Naruto.

"Calm down, Naruto-kun. I was just telling Jiraiya-sama about Pain.", said Hana.

"Pain? Is that the name of a person?", asked Hinata.

"Yes. He threw away his real name, and named himself Pain. He's very powerful.", said Hana.

"How powerful is he?", asked Naruto, with a grim expression.

"Well, have you heard of Hanzo?", asked Hana.

Both Hinata and Hana shrugged.

"Well, let me put it this way. Jiraiya-sama, Tsunade-sama, and Orochimaru were three Chunin who took part in the Second Great Ninja War. The one epic battle they had to fight, was against Hanzo of the Salamander, the leader of Amegakure. Impressed with how well they fought, despite the harsh conditions in which the war took place, Hanzo asked them to accept the title of Sannin, in exchange for which, he'd allow them to go free.", said Hana.

"Well, what does Hanzo-sama have anything to......Wait. Wait a minute. He GRANTED them the title? He's powerful enough to GRANT titles? Man, does that mean Hanzo-sama was really handing your backs on a platter?", asked Naruto, fully blown away by what he heard.

Hinata also gasped on making the connections.

Jiraiya who was stunned on hearing what Hana told before Naruto and Hinata came, numbly nodded.

"Naruto-kun, he was powerful enough to grant titles.", said Hana, sadly.

"Was? Does that mean what I think it means?"

"If you're thinking that he's dead, yes. Hanzo, and every single human being connected to him, were murdered by Pain.", said Hana.

"And, what does this have to do with Jiraiya-sama, Hana-chan?", asked Hinata.

"Fine, this requires that I tell you about Akatsuki. Akatsuki is an organization comprising of S-Ranked and SS-Ranked Missing nins. Their primary job, is to hunt down the Jinchuurikis of the tailed beasts, and capture them for later use. So, three years from now, when Akatsuki became a great threat to you, Naruto-kun, and due to the path of destruction they left in their wake, to Konoha too, Jiraiya-sama left for Amegakure, to gather more information on Akatsuki. Pain, who was the leader of Amegakure after murdering Hanzo-sama, confronted Jiraiya-sama immediately, and though he managed to use all of his powers, he died to Pain.", said Hana, tearing up a bit.

"Don't worry, Gama-Sennin, I'm sure that's one of the reasons why Hana-chan came here – to save you.", said Naruto, with a confident expression in his eyes.

"An-and, we will p-pro-protect you, e-even at t-the cost of o-our live-lives!", said Hinata, with fierce determination.

"That is one of the reasons why I came – to prevent your death, Jiraiya-sama. Plus, I really don't wish you'd die – remember? You still haven't got your chance with Tsunade-sama.", said a now smiling Hana.

Naruto was hugging Hinata, while Hana looked at Jiraiya with a smiling face.

'Why do I feel this warm feeling in my mind? Like as if I could die right now, and be happy? Why would they want to protect an old geezer like me?', thought Jiraiya.

"You're wondering why we would want to protect an old guy like you, right?", asked Hana.

"How did you know?", asked Jiraiya with narrowed eyes.

"Oh, all you great and powerful men are the same. As for that old guy part, I have a small something that will remedy the situation. Only, I ask you to wait until we find Tsunade-sama."

Jiraiya just nodded, and saw that Naruto and Hinata were kissing. He cleared his throat loud enough for them to hear it and break apart.

"Not that I mind, but I think it's time we started the hunt for Tsunade.", said Jiraiya, removing the seal, and ordering breakfast.

After twenty minutes, they were done with breakfast, and Hana pulled out four wireless receivers from her backpack.

"Here.", she said, handing one to each, and taking one for herself, "These are enhanced wireless receivers. Their range covers the whole town. So, we can contact each other if we have any problems."

After Hinata, Jiraiya and Hana wore their receivers on their ears, Naruto pulled up the hood that was a part of his outfit, and said, "I bet I'll find Tsunade-sama first."

"Oh no no no no no, no one's gonna take you up on your bet", said Hana, "Since out of the four of us, you're the Legendary Winner at Bets."

"Fine. See you later."

Saying this, Naruto offered them a wan smile, and ran to the exit.

"We might as well leave. Hinata, Hana, see you later. Feel free to search together if you want.", said Jiraiya, moving to the door himself.

Hinata and Hana, taking up Jiraiya's offer, decided to search together.

* * *

**Time flies, and its evening.**

**(Cue theme – Asian Kung Fu Generation – 24 O'clock)**

It was evening, and despite Naruto, Jiraiya, Hinata and Hana searching opposite corners of Kakegoto, they couldn't find Tsunade.

Then, Naruto thought, 'Think, Naruto, what did Gama-Sennin say to you about Tsunade-sama?'

_Well, he said that Tsunade loved to gamble and that she's the Legendary Sucker_, said Kyuubi.

'...........I must be the world's biggest idiot. I forgot to check the gambling houses, or bars.'

_Are you even allowed to check bars? Aren't you a bit too young to drink sake?_

'Who said I was going to drink there? I'm just gonna check. Anyway, thanks Kyuubi-chan.'

_Anytime._

Naruto then scanned for signs of Tsunade, when he saw a big commotion at a nearby gambling house.

'What's going on here?', thought Naruto, stepping in to the building.

He asked a nearby person, and the person replied that the woman who was playing right now was losing quite badly, as all her bets were losing bets.

Deciding to save her himself, Naruto dived in, saying, "What game are you playing?"

The woman, who wore a gray colored top that did nothing much to hide her ample cleavage, and simple blue pants, said, "Bug off, kid, it's not like you're gonna win anyway."

"Oh yeah? Wanna bet? I bet that I'll win all the games placed before me, straight, with no losses."

"Not even a single loss, you say? Well, this just got more interesting. Fine, if I lose, I'll do anything you say. But, if you lose, you have to do whatever I say."

"No questions asked?", asked Naruto.

"No questions asked. Deal?"

"Deal."

The woman was a bit unnerved at the tone in which Naruto said deal.

* * *

**The moon's about to rise.....**

"Hinata-chan, any clues?", asked Hana.

"Byakugan.", said Hinata softly. Though they didn't know it, they had managed to come to the spot where Naruto was standing hours ago.

"Um, Hana-chan, are we looking for a woman with a huge chest, and a diamond on her forehead?", asked Hinata.

"T-that's it, Hinata-chan, you've found her. Can you tell what she's doing?"

"Well, Naruto-kun's there, playing with her."

"OK, Hinata-chan, let's allow Naruto-kun to come out victorious. I'm sure he had a plan when he started playing with her."

They stood in silence for a few minutes.

"What do you see in that idiot, anyway?", asked Hana.

"If you mean Naruto-kun, he's strong, kind, funny, and he's cute too. He's also the one who taught me my nindo, my ninja way, what it means to never give up, to fight for what you want. Why are you asking me this?", asked Hinata, drawing her cream colored jacket closer.

"Just to confirm. Anyway, I think Naruto's done with his small challenge.", said Hana, tugging on her blue shirt.

Hinata saw that Naruto was walking out with said woman tagging along behind him.

"Good job. Now, let's fill her in.", said Hana to Naruto.

"Will you tell me what's going on here?", asked the woman indignantly. "And, don't you try any tricks. I'm warning you right now – I'm very strong."

"Just wait for a few, woman.", said Naruto.

Taking hold of Hinata, he kissed her, and holding her hand gently, he spoke into his receiver, "Come to where there is smoke in the sky."

"Hello, woman standing right here.", said the woman, waving her hand.

"All right. Prepare to be shocked. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.", said Naruto. A clone of Naruto jumped up, and making a really huge jump, it vanished with a puff of smoke in the sky.

Naruto then opened his hood, just as Jiraiya arrived.

"Long time no see, Tsunade.", said Jiraiya.

"Jiraiya? What are you doing here? And who are these kids?", asked Tsunade.

"The girl with the coat's Hinata Hyuga, the girl next to her is Hana Aikouka, and this kid's....."

"Naruto Uzumaki at your service!", said Naruto with a grin.

"Come on", said Jiraiya, dragging Tsunade, "Let's go have a drink. You three come with us too."

And a stunned Tsunade followed Jiraiya into a bar and a private booth, where Tsunade told Shizune to reveal herself, and they both sat opposite to Jiraiya and his team.

* * *

**The Bar**

**(Cigar Blues Remixed?)**

"Fine, let me explain. These three are my apprentices.", said Jiraiya.

"Apprentices? And you still haven't taken advantage of those two girls? I'm surprised Jiraiya. What's changed?", asked Tsunade.

"There are three things. Number one, these two are as strong as you – they can pack a punch. Number two – Naruto here will kill me if I did anything to his girlfriend and best friend. Number three – as of five weeks, I've given up on my Icha Icha series and that whole genre.", said Jiraiya.

"What? You've given up on it? Th-That's unlike you, Jiraiya.", said Tsunade, as if she was troubled by the very idea.

"Then get used to it.", said Jiraiya, simply.

"Why did you come searching for me?", asked Tsunade, getting serious.

"Right. I'll get straight to the point. The Konoha Council wants you to be the Godaime Hokage, since-"

"Sarutobi-sensei's dead?", interrupted Tsunade, completing Jiraiya's line.

"How do you know?", asked Jiraiya.

"Ran into our old teammate.", muttered Tsunade.

"What? You ran into Orochimaru? What did that teme want?", asked Jiraiya.

Tsunade simply turned her head, and the table was silent for a few minutes.

"Tell me at least if you'll take up the position or not.", said Jiraiya.

"What good is that position? It's a position only filled sorrow, misery, hatred.", said Tsunade.

She lifted her head to stare at Jiraiya.

"My grand father, grand uncle, Sarutobi-sensei, Minato Namikaze, were all fools."

Naruto was visibly angry at Tsunade's words, and a hand on his shoulder each was all Hana and Hinata could do to calm him down.

"Fools who died for their village. Fools who couldn't fulfill their own dreams and ambitions. Sarutobi-sensei was too old to live his dreams. Minato Namikaze was a talented man who got himself killed. All because they were Hokages. Life isn't money – you can't risk it all away. Only a fool would do that.", said Jiraiya.

"Please stop bastardizing my prized student and give me a straight answer."

"That job, is an utterly useless job. It's worth nothing. Only a fool would take it.", finished Tsunade.

Naruto looked like as if he was going to rip apart the table, but he visibly calmed down, and said, "Gama-Sennin, let's go. She deserves even less respect than you did when you were at the prime of writing Icha Icha. And Konoha wants that this person become the Fifth Hokage?", in an ice cold tone.

"How dare you insult me?", asked Tsunade.

"Yeah? What should I do then? Praise you? Praise you for insulting the men who laid down their lives to protect millions of others'? Praise you for insulting the man who reduced Orochimaru to the wimp he is? Praise you for insulting my father, who, at the cost of his own life, and my mother's, sealed the Kyuubi into me? You , madam, are a shame", he said in a tone dripped in ice, "to the legacy of the Shodai and the Nidaime Hokage. Gama-Sennin, I thought that being a Sannin, your teammate would be a highly respectable person, but so far, she's been very disappointing. She's done nothing but insult the the strongest men of Konoha. I'm sorry, Hinata-chan, Hana-chan, but I can't give her the respect you told me to give her."

Hinata looked like she wanted to stop Naruto, but Hana stopped her by shaking her head.

But even before Hinata could think about doing anything, Tsunade's hand shot out to catch Naruto by the collar of his long overcoat.

"What do you know about anything, kid? You want me to believe that you know something more about Minato than I do?"

"That's it.". Saying this, Naruto broke free of Tsunade's hold. "I've allowed you to insult my father for too long. I'm now taking you down."

"Let's take this outside.", said Tsunade, moving out.

* * *

**The moonlight is so bright, even if the moon is not full.....**

The road was pretty deserted, and Tsunade and Naruto stood opposing each other.

Nearby, Shizune was holding Ton Ton and standing next to Jiraiya, and Hana and Hinata were holding each other's hands, watching Naruto.

Tsunade held out one finger, and said, "This is all I need to whip you into shape."

"Is that so? We'll see. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.", said Naruto.

Two clones of Naruto appeared, and spinning out two kunais, they went to attack Tsunade. Tsunade folded her other hand back, and expertly dodged the two clones' attacks. As the first one jumped to attack her again, she used her pointer finger to strike the clone straight to the heart, and spun back to strike the other clone in the same spot.

The two clones were blown back, and as they vanished, Naruto placed a hand on his heart, thinking, 'Gods, Kyuubi-chan. She's got the strength of a thousand bulls.'

_I think it's time you stopped underestimating the Sannin_, said Kyuubi.

'Yeah, you're right. Let's see if I can use the Rasengan here.'

"What, brat? What's wrong? Stunned?", asked Tsunade, mocking him.

"You wish. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.", said Naruto.

"Before we continue, tell me something.", said Tsunade.

"What?"

"Why is it that you get excited by the word 'Hokage'?"

Naruto bowed down. "Unlike you, I'll get that title for sure. Why, you ask? You know about me, and I know that. You know what I am. And because of that, I have been shunned all my life, made no friends except for Hinata-chan, Hana-chan, Gama-Sennin, Sarutobi-sama and Iruka-sensei. I want to be respected by the very village that shunned me, stunted my growth, by being the most important person. And that is possible only if I become the Hokage. So, I get excited by that word, because....". Here Naruto looked at Tsunade with a small smile on his face, and said, 'It's my dream to become the Hokage!"

Tsunade went into shock. She just saw Nawaki and Dan standing behind Naruto, proclaiming the same words as him.

"_It's my dream to become Hokage!", said Nawaki to a twenty year old Tsunade._

"_It's my dream to become Hokage!", said Dan to a thirty year old Tsunade._

'Nawaki......Dan......', thought Tsunade.

"Right. Now!". Naruto started pouncing his hand over the clone's and a ball of chakra formed in the clone's hand.

'Is that..... Rasengan?', thought Tsunade, bewildered.

The clone ran towards Tsunade, who saw that she had no way but to disrupt it, and did so by jabbing her finger on the road. The road cracked, and the Naruto clone stumbled. But, before it disappeared, it gave a huge smirk, and Tsunade saw that behind her, there were two Narutos with a Rasengan in each of their hands. The irony of the fact being that hadn't she sprung back, she would have been hit by them.

"Wanna bet again?", asked Naruto.

"Jiraiya, this is disappointing. Have you been getting this kid's hopes up by teaching him Minato's jutsus? Isn't it an insult to him?", asked Tsunade, as Naruto's clone vanished and he lost the Rasengan.

"Oh, I think my time was spent well, because these three kids mastered it in just five weeks, as opposed to the twelve I took. They've got potential.", said Jiraiya, smirking himself.

"Fine, kid. I'll challenge you. If you can prove yourself in a week's time, by doing something I recognize as substantial, I'll give you this necklace that belonged to my grandfather. But, if you lose, I want you to forget that pipe dream about becoming a Hokage to gain people's respect. Deal?", asked Tsunade.

"Right. Get that necklace ready. Within a week's time, I will have done something substantial.", said Naruto, and with that he left with Shizune, who was instructed by Jiraiya to book three rooms for them at an inn.

Hinata followed Naruto.

But, Hana was dragged by Jiraiya into the bar, to talk with them.

"Right, Hana, spill it out to Tsunade.", said Jiraiya.

"OK, Jiraiya-sama. Tsunade-sama, I'm not from this world.", said Hana.

"What do you mean?", asked Tsunade, stunned.

"I'm from a world where this whole Ninja universe is nothing but mere fiction. And, I know the whole history as well as future happenings of this world.", said Hana.

"And why should I believe this seemingly false tale?", asked Tsunade.

"Fine. You want proof, I can give it to you." Hana turned to Tsunade, and said, "Orochimaru contacted you, and struck a deal with you, giving you a week's time. The terms of the deal were that you were supposed to heal is arms, in exchange for which he would resurrect Nawaki-san and Dan-san, bringing them back to life, and not attack Konoha after his arms were healed."

"Is that what happened, Tsunade?", asked Jiraiya.

"She's right.", said a still stunned Tsunade.

"So, should we change our plan?", asked Jiraiya to Hana.

"No. Since Naruto has to prove himself to you, Tsunade-sama, we'll go as scripted – you go and try to kill Orochimaru, Kabuto stops you, you shift the fight to an open place, and we'll follow you, and we'll fight till we beat Orochimaru to a pulp and make him retreat.", said Hana with a smile.

"OK, your name's....", trailed off Tsunade.

"Hana, Hana Aikouka.", said Hana.

"Right. Leave now so that I can talk with Jiraiya."

"All right, Tsunade-sama.", said Hana, and before she left, she whispered something to Tsunade, who nodded in agreement. She then bounded away to the hotel.

"Jiraiya, can you trust her?", asked Tsunade.

"No problem, Hime, I'd trust her with my life. Whatever she's done, whether out of luck or not, she's been right so far.", said Tsunade.

"So, care to say what's changed you?", asked Tsunade.

"Forgive me if I open any old wounds, Hime, but it was a situation similar to yours. I was just in time to see Minato sacrificing himself, and I also fought along with Sarutobi-sensei during his last battle. Two people whom I deeply remember and care for, dying right before my eyes – that was enough to open my eyes. Those were torturous scenes, where I could do nothing but stand in the sidelines and watch as they died. Just like Nawaki and Dan. That was enough to determine the goals left in my life. One – to train those three kids. Two – to die a heroic death-"

"And three, to see if you have a chance with me."

"So, you know."

"Yes. I think we'll put that aside for now, though."

"OK. I want you to reconsider taking up the job."

"Is it because of that kid, Minato's son?"

"You know that he's almost the same as Nawaki, personality-wise and appearance-wise. The job is worth it.", said Jiraiya.

"If you know much about the job, why didn't you take it yourself?", asked Tsunade.

"First of all, it would be impossible for me to manage my spy networks if I take up the job. Second, I guess I want to put more effort into teaching those three. So, no go. You, on the other hand, are descended from the family that founded Konoha. You are better suited and respected than me."

"But you are also a member of the Sannin, right?"

"Well, only you four know that I have broken out of writing porn. So, I'm still not respected among the women. I guess they'd fire me before they even allow the council to think about asking me to be a Hokage."

"OK, I'll think about taking the job, if you stop lecturing me."

"So, shall we just drink in silence?"

"Yes, I guess."

A few minutes passed in silence

"You have changed a lot too, haven't you, Hime?"

"Times change. People change."

"I could say the same for myself."

"And that's fine with me."

* * *

**At the hotel**

Naruto was thinking about what he was going to prove to Tsunade, when he heard knocks on the door.

He opened the door to see Shizune.

"Naruto-kun, I have something to say to you.", said Shizune.

"You're Tsunade-sama's assistant, right?", asked Naruto.

"Yes, the name's Shizune. I'm here to tell you about Tsunade-sama, and the necklace."

* * *


End file.
